Behavorial acts of 42 heroin addicts—27 male, 15 female—on a six-day detoxification program in an inpatient psychiatric ward over a five-month period were studied. Background of the patients was examined, analysis was made of medications, patients' behavior was measured on a behavioral rating scale. Hospital days and shifts during which patients made most requests for medication, shifts during which greatest number of negative behavioral acts occurred, and the general behavioral patterns of the patients were charted. Implications for nursing are discussed.