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A Comparison of Inpatient Management of Drug Dependence in 1979 and 1984
Author(s) -
LONDON M.,
GHODSE A. H.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
british journal of addiction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.424
H-Index - 193
eISSN - 1360-0443
pISSN - 0952-0481
DOI - 10.1111/j.1360-0443.1987.tb03293.x
Subject(s) - abstinence , detoxification (alternative medicine) , medicine , addiction , population , drug , unit (ring theory) , drug treatment , intervention (counseling) , psychiatry , opiate , emergency medicine , demography , psychology , environmental health , alternative medicine , receptor , pathology , mathematics education , sociology
Summary The number of patients admitted to an inpatient drug‐dependence treatment unit rose from 82 in 1979 to 198 in 1984, while those with two or more admissions in the index year fell from 55% to 35%. Opiate detoxification accounted for 60% of admissions in 1984, hut only 12% in 1979. Barbiturate detoxification, social crises and self‐destructive behaviours accounted for significantly more admissions in 1979, and the 1979 patients were also found to be more unstable on other variables. The increased rate of drug addiction in the general population, as shown by Home Office statistics, had influenced the pattern of admissions. The role of the unit had been transformed from one of crisis intervention, support and stabilization to one with greater emphasis on abstinence and cure.