Citation

Somer E. Addict. Res. Theory 2003; 11(5): 339-348.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/1606635031000141102

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study is an investigation of trauma and dissociation in 93 Israeli patients recovering from drug use disorder. The respondents showed more emotional, physical and sexual traumatization than consecutive admissions to an Israeli outpatient stress clinic, and their levels of dissociation were similar to those previously measured in Israeli patients diagnosed with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Acute Stress Disorder. It was posited that the level of trauma-related dissociation can make an independent contribution to explaining variance in recovery from a drug use disorder. The finding of structural equation analyses supported this model and suggests that childhood traumatization is related to the proclivity of chemically-dependent respondents to participate in psychosocial treatment and that duration of psychosocial treatment can positively predict duration of abstinence. Dissociation levels made an independent negative contribution to the prediction of abstinence. While our findings imply that tenacity in treatment could be a sustaining process associated with abstinence from drug use, they also suggest that without a thorough resolution of trauma-related dissociation, optimal treatment outcome is compromised.

Language: en

Keywords

Dissociation; Dual Diagnosis; Heroin; Israel; Substance Abuse; Trauma