Group counseling in psychological rehabilitation of heroin addicts

Objective:To explore the effect of the group counseling in the rehabilitation of heroin addicts.Methods:60 heroin addicts were selected in compulsory abstinence after their physical detoxification.30 were randomly in counseling group,while the others were as control group.The counseling group participated in the 3-month group counseling intervention.The control group just received routine management,care and education.Before and after the group counseling,SCL-90 was used to measure the effect of the intervention.The counseling group also filled in the group counseling checklist.Results:After group counseling intervention,the SCL-90 scores of the counseling group did not change significantly except the anxiety score and were not lower significantly than the control group.But more than 90%in counseling group were relatively satisfied with the group intervention,and hoped to participate in this kind of activities continuously.Conclusion:This group intervention model didn't effectively reduce the psychological symptoms of heroin abusers.But the research still showed the practical value of the group counseling and it needed further studies.