Follow-up of a Token Economy Applied to Civilly Committed Narcotic Addicts

Thirty-one civil-commitment, male, heroin addicts participated in an intramural token economy designed to reinforce the rehabilitative process by programming the incentive of length of residential stay. The project evaluated participation in rehabilitative activities during intramural stay, personality change as measured by the MMPI, and follow-up of the participants' community aftercare retention. The token economy had a substantial impact on the participants' institutional adjustment but had little influence on the evaluative dimensions of personality change and rate of aftercare retention.