ABSTRACT
The Council on Mental Health of the American Medical Association in the not too distant past expressed the opinion that prognosis in the opiate addict tended to be poorer than in most other psychiatric disorders. The estimate or prognosis reinforces the need for knowing what might be anticipated to occur in the natural history of the disorder in a patient with specific characteristics. The long-term studies detailing the natural history of addictive behavior have indicated that regardless of treatment there are forces at work within individuals that, in some cases, will ultimately result in a return to abstinence – this has been referred to as the “maturing out” process. In the adult, age and the duration of the addiction may at times have considerable significance in estimating the possible outcome of the addictive disorder. Tending to darken the outlook is an ethnic background, broken home, and a family history of addiction, alcoholism, and crime.
