ABSTRACT
Very large behavioral changes were experienced by these New York City clients. But the data presented here suggest that the effects of treatment cannot be separated from other factors. And, as also in the case of the Washington study, addicts’ behavioral change was not only unrelated to type of treatment but was unrelated to demographic and background characteristics as well. This absence of differences is, again, surprising. The Winick maturing-out hypothesis that has been advanced 1 could possibly explain these findings. Addicts were interviewed more than three years after leaving the program. However, because there are no measurements taken, say one or two years after leaving treatment, there is no way to test this hypothesis.
