Outpatient treatment of prescription opioid dependence: comparison of two methods

Outpatient treatment of 42 patients who presented with dependence upon prescription opioids was attempted by two different methods. The first group of 21 patients was treated by 21-day detoxification followed by psychotherapeutic counseling (D/C), and the next 21 patients were offered 21-day detoxification to be followed by opioid maintenance if detoxification was unsuccessful (D/M). Only 5 of 21 (23.8%) patients in the D/C group compared to 20 of 21 (95.2%) in the D/M group completed three weeks of treatment (P less than .001). On admission, no patient perceived that chronic pain due to a medical condition would be an impediment to withdrawal from opioids, but pain which was masked by opioid dependency and which emerged during detoxification proved to be an insurmountable barrier to total withdrawal in the majority of patients. Treatment of outpatients who presented with dependence upon prescription opioids was best provided in the study by opioid maintenance and adjunctive pain therapy.