The Positive Side of Administrative Discharge (in a Drug Program)

Abstract

A firm behavioral approach in an addiction program has been found operationally useful in providing external control for a population lacking internal control. Of necessity, a certain number of administrative discharges have occurred with this approach. An inadvertent effect, however, in numerous instances has been a marked improvement in the patient so discharged, who seemingly is activated out of a dreadful passivity by this induced crisis. The course of this can be delineated through a number of stages with surprising consistency. Implications for treatment are discussed.