Psychosocial treatment interventions appear to be beneficial adjuncts to opioid withdrawal management.320 When offered in addition to pharmacologically-supported withdrawal management (e.g., opioid agonist taper), psychosocial treatment interventions such as contingency management and psychotherapeutic counselling may be effective in improving treatment retention and completion, sustaining abstinence from unregulated opioids, and reducing opioid use during treatment.320 However, there is currently limited evidence due to small sample sizes and heterogeneous assessment and outcome measurements. 

There is also insufficient evidence to favour any specific psychosocial treatment modality, including which psychosocial treatment is most effective for particular patient populations. This is due, in part, to the diverse populations and the variety of psychosocial interventions examined in the existing literature.320 Therefore, further research and patient-specific approaches are needed with regard to psychosocial treatment interventions. Importantly, while psychosocial treatments may improve rates of treatment retention and completion, psychosocial treatment interventions provided during opioid withdrawal management likely do not protect against the elevated risk of HIV infection or fatal overdose if withdrawal management alone is pursued, due to high rates of relapse post-treatment and the negligible benefit of withdrawal management alone.167,301,305,321