Iatrogenic phobic disorders in methadone maintenance treated patients.

A detoxification phobia idiosyncratic to methadone maintenance programs is described and several representative cases are presented. Reliability of diagnostic criteria for the phobia are described and their overall reliability was found to be 93% while occurrence reliability was 67%, which investigators conclude is a moderate but clinically useful level. Prevalence data show the phobia occurring in 27% of a random sample of patients treated with methadone maintenance, an estimate the investigators feel is too high to be representative of typical methadone programs. Implications for treatment are discussed.