hopelessness scores and urine tests in patients with methadone maintenance therapy

Background: feelings of hopelessness could be a potential sign of relapse in opiate addiction. objectives: we investigated statistical relationship of self-reports of hopelessness by patients in methadone maintenance treatment (mmt) to concurrent drug abuse. patients and methods: fifty-two mmt outpatients (34 men, 18 women, mean age 33.6, sd = 9.7) completed the beck hopelessness scale (bhs) to describe how they felt within the last 7 days. results of urine screening tests for opiates, cocaine, oxycodone, and benzodiazepines were also recorded for the last 7 days. results: 67.3% of the patients scored within the normal bhs range (scores < 4), 21.2% within the mild category (bhs from 4 to 8), 9.6% within the moderate (bhs from 9 to 14), and one patient in the severe category (bhs > 14). on urine tests, 23.1% of the patients tested positive for opiates at least once in the last 7 days, 19.2 % for cocaine, and 17.3% for oxycodone. these three urine tests were neither significantly correlated (p > 0.05) with hopelessness scores, nor with gender or age. only 4 patients tested positive for benzodiazepines (7.7 %). conclusions: mild to moderate reports of hopelessness among mmt patients were unrelated to their concurrent abuse of opiates, cocaine, and oxycodone.