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Situations occasioning cocaine use and cocaine abstinence strategies
Author(s) -
KIRBY KIMBERLY C.,
LAMB R. J.,
IGUCHI MARTIN Y.,
HUSBAND STEPHEN D.,
PLATT JEROME J.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
addiction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.424
H-Index - 193
eISSN - 1360-0443
pISSN - 0965-2140
DOI - 10.1046/j.1360-0443.1995.90912418.x
Subject(s) - abstinence , psychology , cocaine use , addiction , cocaine dependence , drug , methadone , psychiatry , medicine
We interviewed 265 cocaine‐experienced methadone patients about situations that occasioned their cocaine use and strategies they used to avoid cocaine use. Subjects identified an average of 15 situations that occasioned cocaine use. The three most frequently identified were having the drug present (86% of subjects), being offered the drag (85%) and having money available (83%). Subjects reporting fewer situations also reported longer periods of lifetime abstinence (p< 0.01). A principal components analysis extracted 10 groups of situations that were most frequently identified in combination. Subjects identified a median of seven strategies for avoiding cocaine use; however, there was large inter‐subject variability. This variance was not accounted for by demographic variables, employment status or treatment experience. The three strategies identified most frequently were avoiding people and places (81%), thinking about what they could lose (76%) and leaving the situation (66%). The total number and type (reactive vs. proactive) of strategies identified by subjects had no relationship to cocaine abstinence, although four specific strategies (thinking about what could be lost, leaving the situation, moving to a new area and using a different drug) were positively correlated with cocaine abstinence. We discuss implications of these results for clinical practice.