mental distress following treatment was a relapse into drug use. However, this group also showed elevated levels of depression, symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder and paranoia at the six-month follow-up interviews.
“In contrast, the [voluntary group] retained the improvement achieved during treatment throughout follow-up,” researchers stated.
The study has several important implications. First, compulsory addiction treatment services should be better integrated into the “broader treatment system.” Second, in order to achieve better results for people who are legally required to receive addiction treatment, coordination between various care services needs to improve, particularly after discharge. Finally, researchers stated that there needs to be more services aimed at after-discharge care, such as peer-based groups, in order to prevent relapses and the resulting increase in psychological distress.
