ARTICLE INFO

Article Type

Original Research

Authors

Kiani   A. (*)
Madani   M. (1)
Fathi   A. (2)






(*) Psychology Department, Human Sciences Faculty, Ahar Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahar, Iran
(1) Psychology Department, Human Sciences Faculty, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran
(2) NAJA Institute for Police Sciences & Social Studies, Tehran, Iran

Correspondence

Address: Islamic Azad University, Ahar, Iran. Postal Code: 5451116714
Phone: -
Fax: -
ps.mkiyani@gmail.com

Article History

Received:  November  8, 2018
Accepted:  April 20, 2019
ePublished:  June 15, 2019

BRIEF TEXT


Drug addiction is a widespread concern, which affected many human societies, and its prevalence is increasing rapidly in the world and in Iran [1].

... [2, 3]. Nowadays, there are at least 1,300 drug types, among which amphetamine and Cocaine products are the most consumed in the world [4]. Amphetamines are highly addictive that are spreading worldwide. [5] ... [6, 7]. Despite the advances made in the treatment of addiction, the relapse of heavy and uncontrollable consumption remains a common problem [8]. Understanding the relapse and prevention is one of the greatest challenges faced by specialists in treatment [9]. Although slip and relapse are synonymous, but have a different meaning. Slip is an abrupt or sudden return to drug use, but relapse is a re-use of the substance on a regular basis after withdrawal, which is caused following slip and full dependence on the use of the substance. Slip does not necessarily lead to relapse. ... [10]. In the process of treating addicts, there is a great temptation to experience the effects of drugs after withdrawal and avoidance. This condition may be seen from a few hours after treatment to days and months after the end. The World Health Organization has considered temptation as the basis for the initiation of drug dependence, loss of control and relapse [11]. ... [12]. One of the many psychological treatments that has discovered is mindfulness-based therapy (MBT) [13]. ... [14, 15]. In this regard, the results of a study showed that prevention of relapse based on mindfulness has a significant effect on substance use disorder [16]. … [17]. … [18].

The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of MBT therapy in reducing the carvings and slip of amphetamine abusers.

This research is a semi-experimental study with pre-test and post-test design.

The present study was conducted on amphetamine users who referred to outpatient recovery center of Tabriz in the first quarter of 2018 (N = 650).

The sample was estimated 40 subjects, who were selected by available random sampling and divided into the experimental (n=20) and control groups (n=20). The inclusion criteria included at least secondary school education, passing the detoxification period, and no psychological disorder (based on the patient’s record). The exclusion criterion also was the lack of attending in therapy sessions for two consecutive sessions.

The following questionnaires were used: 1. Craving Beliefs Questionnaire (CBQ): The reliability of this scale has been reported based on the Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.84 [19]. The coefficient of internal consistency of this scale in a research was 0.77 [20]. 2. Relapse Prevention Counseling (RPC) Questionnaire: it was used to assess slip. The range of scores in this questionnaire varies from zero to 180 [21]. Firoozabadi et al. using Cronbach's alpha, reported an internal consistency for temptation rate of 0.74 and a probability of consumption of 0.78 [22]. In another study, Cronbach's Alpha of this scale reported 0.87 [23]. For collecting information after obtaining the necessary permissions and confirming the ethics of the research, both groups received pre-test. Then the experimental group received 8 sessions of mindfulness therapy intervention and the control group remained without any intervention. Mindfulness therapy consisted of 8 sessions of mindfulness education based on the training package of Segal et al. [14] and a weekly 90-min session. Finally, after completing the training sessions and spending 8 weeks, the subjects were subjected to post-test via questionnaires. The data were analyzed by SPSS 21 software using covariance analysis.

The mean age of the control and experimental groups was 27.01 ± 6.42 and 25.17 ± 5.31 years, respectively. The mean of drug use in the control and experimental groups was 13.88 ± 2.17 group and 14.18 ± 2.83 months and the mean of withdrawal in the control and experimental groups was 2.41 ± 0.51 and 2.81 ± 0.79, respectively. The average carving beliefs in the post-test decreased in the experimental group compared with the pre-test and the mean difference between the two groups was significant in the post-test (p = 0.0001). The mean of slip in the post-test in the experimental group was lower than the pretest, and the mean difference between the two groups was significant in the post-test (p = 0.0001; Table 2).

The results indicated that mindfulness-based education had a significant effect on the reduction of carving thoughts in amphetamine addicts. The results were consistent with other research findings [7, 24-28]. The results of a research by Marlat et al. suggest that this therapy has a significant effect on the reduction of drug dependence in the addiction-quitting stage [24]. Ilefi et al. reported in their survey that mindfulness-based exercises reduce craving of drug use and smoking [25]. Also, the results of another study show mindfulness-based education has significantly reduced the heroin craving scores in the experimental group compared to control group in post-test and follow-up [7]. In a study, Bashpour also showed that a Mindfulness-based relapse prevention program has a significant effect on improving the motivation of treatment of drug dependent individuals [28]. A similar result was obtained in Chase et al. study [27]. ... [29]. Other results showed that mindfulness-based education had a significant effect on slip in amphetamine addicts in the addiction-quitting stage. These results were consistent with other studies [16, 17, 24-28, 30]. In this regard, other research results show that Mindfulness-based relapse prevention program has a significant effect on substance use disorder. Mindfulness by promoting admission and awareness of individuals to his experiences can prevent relapse of substance [17]. Farnam et al. showed that mindfulness has a significant effect on preventing relapse and increasing coping skills in opiate dependent people [26]. ... [31, 32].

It is suggested that a similar study be conducted in different cities of Iran in order to increase the generalizability of findings, and to accurately control the period of drug use and the frequency of relapse.

One of the limitations of this research is the limitation of the statistical society to those referring to outpatient recovery centers in Tabriz.

Mindfulness-based education affects the reduction of carving beliefs and slip in amphetamine addicts in addiction-quitting stage.

The researchers are thankful to the people participating in this research as well as the officials and staff of the outpatient treatment centers of Tabriz.

None declared.

This research was approved by the Ethics Committee of Azad University.

This study was extracted from a thesis and was funded by the authors.

TABLES and CHARTS

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