ASSESSING THE HELPING ALLIANCE AND ITS IMPACT IN THE TREATMENT OF OPIATE DEPENDENCE

This study assesses the relationship between the patient-counselor hel ping alliance (HA) and progress in methadone maintenance treatment. Qu estionnaire measures of HA were administered to 57 patients 1 and 3 mo nths after admission. Three-month HA measures (especially counselors' ratings) predicted reductions in drug use as measured by weekly urinal ysis results and 6-month self-report data. HA was unrelated to treatme nt retention or improvement in psychiatric symptomatology. Moreover, c ontrolling for urinalysis results in the previous month rendered insig nificant the correlations between 3-month HA and subsequent drug use. Thus, this evaluation of the HA's unique contribution to the predictio n of outcome suggests that the development of a positive HA may be mor e a marker of treatment progress than a necessary precursor of positiv e outcomes in the methadone maintenance treatment setting. (C) 1997 El sevier Science Ireland Ltd.