OUTPATIENT SELF HELP FOR DRUG DEPENDENT INDIVIDUALS IN GERMANY--APPROACHES, CLIENTELE, AND EFFECTS

Abstract

Between November 1999 and April 2001 the German Department of Health (Bundesministerium für Gesundheit) supported a study analyzing the situation of outpatient self-help for drug dependent individuals in Germany. The term outpatient self-help for drug dependent individuals (SHG) refers to those self-help groups existing independently, outside of therapeutic or institutional settings, whose members are either former users and/or are still using drugs. The presented study is the first one to analyze all self-help approaches for drug dependent individuals existing in Germany. It describes their philosophy, structural frame, and characteristics of their members. First statements about the effects of SHGs are generated—employing a cross-section analysis— using the examined population as an example. This article presents central results of the study. They lead to the conclusion that SHGs are relevant to the social, psychic, and substance-specific reintegration of their members.