| Methadone Maintenance Treatment (MMT) involves administering a daily dose of methadone, a long lasting opiate, to treat those who are heroin dependent. Research suggests that those in MMT engage in less illicit drug use, criminal behavior, and unsafe sexual practices compared to heroin dependent people not in treatment. Despite the relatively widespread use of MMT, relatively little is known about its effects on executive functions, a group of related functions associated with the frontal lobes of the brain involved in formulating, modifying, and executing plans of action. This study examined changes in executive functioning during MMT by administering an executive functioning test battery at 30 days post-admission to MMT and then again 90 days later.; Executive functioning was assessed through administration of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Porteus Mazes Test, Stroop Color Word Test, Figural Fluency Test, and family members completed the Frontal Systems Behavior Scale. As a depression screen, the participants completed the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. The baseline scores for the MMT clients were compared to the normative data.; The methadone maintained clients, at 30 days post-admission to MMT, exhibited significant deficits in the Stroop Color Word Test, Porteus Mazes Test, and a trend towards poorer performance on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test along with reporting significantly higher level of depressive symptomology in comparison to the normative population. The family members reported that the methadone maintained patients were significantly impaired in levels of apathy and disinhibition. When comparing the first to second testing session, the methadone maintained clients showed significant improvements in Stroop Interference Score and Figural Fluency Test. Post-hoc comparisons revealed these improvements appeared to be gender related, with the females demonstrating significant improvements in the Stroop Test and the males showing no improvements. Significant gender differences did not emerge in the Figural Fluency Task. The family members reported a trend towards improvement in level of apathy and executive dysfunction.; These results suggest MMT not only reduces high risk behaviors, but it may also contribute to improvements in executive functioning. Further studies need to be completed to understand the mechanisms underlying these improvements. |
