The theoretical framework for the study drew on knowledge from two sets of social science theories. The first set of theories comprises social construction theory and its allies of ethnomethodology and symbolic interactionism. These theories emphasize the importance of human consciousness, reflexivity, and understanding of the self and society in individual and social action. The second set of theories consist of 10 biological, psychological, and sociological theories designed to explain drug abuse and recovery. Data for the study were obtained through interviews with the subjects during April and May 1997. All of the respondents were males and had been heroin addicts; the majority had a criminal record related to drugs. The rehabilitation services received included detoxification, treatment in a residential facility and in a halfway house, vocational counseling, social work counseling, and peer counseling. The treatment was a hybrid of various methods and activities, including work and socializing. The interviews used a Q-sort task that required respondents to rate the importance of causes related to their success in abstinence maintenance. Cognitive factors were apparently the most important causes of success in abstinence maintenance. Confidence, metacognition, knowledge, and rational thought were the most significant skills that conformed to social cognitive theory. The study advises that cognitive-behavioral therapy should be the best theoretically guided and empirically relevant approach for the maintenance of abstinence after treatment. With a longer duration of abstinence, social-cognitive, role, and rational-choice factors became more important; and lack-of-strain, social support, psychoanalytic, life value, and self-control factors diminished in importance. 6 tables and 45 references