Abstract The aim of this research was to examine the effectiveness of supportive-expressive therapy in improving the maintenance treatment outcome for opioid dependency. For this purpose, a single case experimental design across subjects was used in which four opioid dependent subjects were assessed during baseline, intervention and follow-up phases. The assessment measures included Structured Clinical Interview for DSM (SCID Spitzer, Williams, Gibbon & First, 1992) and (ASI McLellan, Cacciola, Alterman, Rikoon & Carise, 2006) ANOVA and Polynominal contrasts were used to examine the effectiveness of professional psychotherapy in improving treatment outcome. The findings showed that supportive-expressive therapy significantly improved treatment outcome in the psychiatric and substance use status domains, but had no significant effects on employment and family/social status. Supportive-expressive psychotherapy is effective in improving the maintenance treatment outcome for addiction and therefore it is recommended that it should be integrated into the maintenance treatments of drug dependency.

Keywords: opioid dependency, buprenorphine maintenance treatment, supportive-expressive therapy, treatment outcome indices

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