The Effectiveness of Methadone Maintenance Treatment in the Reduction of Anxiety and Depression Among Drug-Related Prisoners

Background: Methadone effectively alleviates psychiatric disorders. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of methadone maintenance therapy in reduction of anxiety and depression among drug-abuser prisoners in Ahvaz Karoon’s prison. Patients and Methods: In our interventional case-control study, 100 drug-abuser prisoners in Ahvaz Karoon’s Prison, Iran, with the symptoms of depression and anxiety according to symptom checklist (SCL-90-R) were divided into methadone and control groups. Methadone group prisoners filled out the questionnaire at the beginning of the study and 6 months after methadone therapy and their scores were recorded. Similarly, 50 control group (without methadone or any other therapy) prisoners filled out the SCL-90-R and their scores were recorded. Afterwards, the data were collected and analyzed statistically by SPSS version 20. Independent T-test was used for comparison between the case and the control group. Results: The average ages of control and methadone groups were 42.24 ± 9.8 and 42.30 ± 9.8 years, respectively. The difference between groups regarding depression in methadone group (0.67 ± 0.49) and control group (2.82 ± 0.67) was significant (P = 0.001). The difference between methadone (0.59 ± 0.24) and control (2.56 ± 0.38) groups regarding anxiety was significant (P = 0.001). The difference in obsession between methadone (0.51 ± 0.25) and control (2.78 ± 0.43) groups was significant (P = 0.001). Moreover, the difference between hostility in methadone (0.61 ± 0.43) and control (2.48 ± 0.52) groups was significant (P = 0.001). Conclusions: This study indicated that methadone effectively alleviates psychiatric disorders in drug addicts . Furthermore, methadone maintenance treatment improved patients’ quality of life and kept them in a mood-stabilization stage.