Professional psychotherapy and its relationship to compliance in treatment

Compliance rates over a 21-month period for 57 drug-abusing patients receiving individual professional psychotherapy in addition to paraprofessional counseling were compared to compliance rates for patients not receiving individual professional psychotherapy. Compliance was defined as remaining in the treatment environment for an agreed upon time and neither leaving the hospital against medical advice nor being given a disciplinary discharge for illegal drug use, stealing, or fighting. Patients receiving professional psychotherapy had been assessed as having either higher levels of psychiatric symptoms or a history of a psychiatric diagnosis, or being potential management problems. Patients who received psychotherapy more likely remained stabilized in the treatment environment and in their role as patient. An additional finding was that clarity of the therapist's role in the ward environment affected the patient's stabilization. This study supports recent findings that professional psychotherapy can be effective for drug abusers. It suggests that individual psychotherapy/consultation with distressed and difficult patients experiencing disequilibrium in the hospital milieu can be an effective means of restoring that equilibrium.