| Sumario: | 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.
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