Perceived stress related to methadone withdrawal.

BACKGROUND: Stress is a known risk factor in addiction relapse, and prior studies show that relapse induced by stress may be more likely than drug-cue induced relapse. The main goal of our research was to establish the influence of perceived stress in methadone withdrawal outcome and the psychological factors involved.

METHOD: A sample of 81 methadone maintenance treatment outpatients was evaluated and then observed during methadone dose reduction.

RESULTS: a multivariate analysis first showed that successful detoxification was predicted by perceived stress, patient-clinic staff agreement, pharmacotherapy support and social care; and second, perceived stress was predicted by anxiety, depression, self-control, social care and benzodiazepine use.

CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that high levels of stress could increase the risk of failure in methadone detoxification, so a clinical intervention on the psychological factors related to stress would be indicated to improve effectiveness of methadone withdrawal treatment.