ABSTRACT
Background. This study compared two psychosocial approaches for the treatment of cocaine dependence: contingency management (CM) and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT).
Methods. Patients with cocaine dependence who were receiving methadone maintenance treatment (n=120) were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: CM, CBT, combined CM and CBT (CBT+CM), or treatment as usual (i.e., methadone maintenance treatment program only [MMTP only]) (n=30 per cell). The CM procedures and CBT materials were comparable to those used in previously published research. The active study period was 16 weeks, requiring three clinic visits per week. Participants were evaluated during treatment and at 17, 26, and 52 weeks after admission.
Results. Urinalysis results during the 16-week treatment period show that participants assigned to the two groups featuring CM had significantly superior in-treatment urinalysis results, whereas urinalysis results from participants in the CBT group were not significantly different from those of the MMTP-only group. At week 17, self-reported days of cocaine use were significantly reduced from baseline levels for all three treatment groups but not for the MMTP-only group. At the 26-week and 52-week follow-up points, CBT participants showed substantial improvement, resulting in equivalent performance with the CM groups as indicated by both urinalysis and self-reported cocaine use data.
Conclusions. Study findings provide solid evidence of efficacy for CM and CBT. Although the effect of CM is significantly greater during treatment, CBT appears to produce comparable long-term outcomes. There was no evidence of an additive effect for the two treatments in the CM+CBT group. (Archives of General Psychiatry 2002; 59:817–824)
