THE RELATIONSHIP OF OBJECT RELATIONS AND REALITY TESTING DEFICITS TO OUTCOME STATUS OF METHADONE-MAINTENANCE PATIENTS

Impairments in the ability to form and maintain meaningful interperson al relationships and in the ability to distinguish between internal an d external stimuli are related to an individual's psychological health . The Bell Object Relations and Reality Testing Inventory (BORRTI) sco res of 146 methadone patients were used to evaluate whether transitory (TI) or chronic impairments (CIs) in object relations and reality tes ting were related to more severe drug use, family and social problems, psychological distress. as well as more time in treatment. seeking ad ditional treatments. or taking psychiatric medication. The results sho wed no significant relationship between BORRTI scores and family or so cial problems. time in treatment, or the months of heroin use between follow-up evaluations. However. severity of drug use was related to an impairment in a specific dimension of object relations-egocentricity. There was a significant relationship between TIs and CIs in object re lations and reality testing with levels of psychological distress and the likelihood of taking psychiatric medication. Copyright (C) 1996 by W.B. Saunders Company.