2020, Volume 13, Issue 4, pp 572 – 579

Reasons for Increasing Daily Methadone Maintenance Dosage among Deceptive Patients: A Qualitative Study

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Authors and Affiliations

* Corresponding Author: Mohsen Khosravi, Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology, Baharan Psychiatric Hospital, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Postal Code: 9813913777, Zahedan, Iran Phone: +98-5433522636 Fax: +98-5433518352 E-mail: m.khosravi@zaums.ac.ir

Abstract

Methadone maintenance treatment might be commonly associated with lying for several causes or manipulating psychiatrists and therapists by a number of patients. Deceptive patients tend to manipulate their psychiatrists for multiple causes. This study aims to improve clinicians’ therapeutic decision-making by identifying the reasons for increasing daily methadone maintenance dosage among deceptive patients. One hundred ninety-six patients undergoing the Methadone Maintenance Treatment (MMT) with no statistically significant difference between the overall Addiction Severity Index (ASI) scores at different doses of methadone (< 60 mg/d and ≥ 60 mg/d) and Ahvaz Reality Distortion Inventory (ARDI) scores > 30, were examined in the current qualitative study with multiple semi-structural interviews about the reasons for increasing daily methadone maintenance dosage. The investigation results revealed that the most common reasons for increasing daily methadone maintenance dosage among deceptive patients were opium craving, patient willingness to feel euphoria, fear of the withdrawal signs, earn money through the sale of surplus methadone, improve the symptoms of physical and psychiatric comorbidity, forgetting painful memories, curiosity, the influence of others, sexual issues, feeling of well-being, and appearance changes. Given these reasons, any increase in daily methadone maintenance dosage is not necessarily accompanied by improvement in the clinical condition of patients. However, clinicians can make the most appropriate therapeutic decision by putting the psychological assessments and clinical interviews into play.

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About this article

PMC ID: 7803314
PubMed ID: 33456609
DOI: 10.25122/jml-2020-0038

Article Publishing Date (print): Oct-Dec 2020
Available Online: 

Journal information

ISSN Printing: 1844-122X
ISSN Online: 1844-3117
Journal Title: Journal of Medicine and Life

Copyright License: Open Access

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.


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