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Psychosocial interventions with pharmacological assistance for opioid withdrawal
Summary of the evidence
Combined psychosocial (contingency management, community reinforcement, psychotherapeutic counselling and family therapy) and pharmacological assistance were found to be effective in a systematic review of five randomised control trials (N=184 participants, WHO 2009) in:
- increasing rates of completion of treatment (RR 1.68, 95 % CI 1.11 to 2.55, moderate quality evidence);
- reducing rates of relapse at follow-up (RR 0.41, 95 % CI 0.27 to 0.62, moderate-quality evidence).
