ARTICLE INFO

Article Type

Original Research

Authors

Kazemi-Zahrani   H. (*)
Jalali   N. (1)






(*) Department of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Payam-e-Noor University, Tehran, Iran
(1) Department of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Najaf Abad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Najaf Abad, Iran

Correspondence

Address: Department of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Payam-e-Noor University, Tehran, Iran
Phone: -
Fax: -
hkazemi@pnu.ac.ir

Article History

Received:  August  24, 2018
Accepted:  December 10, 2018
ePublished:  December 31, 2018

BRIEF TEXT


Methamphetamine is a stimulant drug. Most addicts tend to change their drug-dependent lifestyle.

… [1]. Using methamphetamine in addition to physical problems, leads to psychiatric disorders, including psychosis, schizophrenia, cognitive deficits [2], and mood and anxiety disorders [3]. … [4]. Addiction has been introduced as a reversible acute concern [5]. Researchers have concluded that three quarters of those with drug withdrawal had addiction relapse one year after the treatment. Negative and positive emotional experiences, desire and temptation are the most important risk factors in the treatment and prevention of addiction relapse [6]. … [7-12]. Witkiewitz et al. [13] combined the results of studies over a decade on the prevention of addiction relapse, introduced a new cognitive-behavioral intervention for substance use as the Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention (MBRP) [14, 15]. … [16-21].

The present study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of mindfulness-based relapse prevention on distress tolerance and craving beliefs in methamphetamine dependent patients.

This study is a quasi-experimental study with the experimental and control groups and pre-test and post-test design.

This study was done on methamphetamine dependents who were referred to the short-term addiction recovery centers, methadone therapy addiction centers, and the prison of Kashan city.

According to the number of people in the statistical population and using the Cochran formula, 40 men and women diagnosed with methamphetamine dependence disorder based on the DSM-IV-TR criteria, who had the inclusion criteria (drug detoxification within one week to the study, TLC test, relapse at least once and at least primary school education) were selected from the short-term addiction recovery centers, Behbood addiction recovery center, and the prison of Kashan city via purposeful sampling. The subjects were randomly assigned into two experimental and control groups.

Distress tolerance was measured by Distress Tolerance Scale (DTS), and craving beliefs were measured by Craving Beliefs Questionnaire (CBQ). Distress Tolerance Scale (DTS): it is developed by Simons and Gaher [9], as an emotional distress tolerance self-assessment scale with 15 items and 4 subscales. The items are scored on a 5-point scale. High scores on this scale indicate a high distress tolerance. Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the whole scale is 0.82. It has also been shown that this scale has an appropriate criterion validity and initial convergence [9]. In a preliminary study on 480 students from the Ferdowsi and Medical Sciences University of Mashhad (31 women and 17 men) its internal consistency was obtained 0.71 [22]. In this study, Cronbach's alpha obtained 0.73. Craving Beliefs Questionnaire (CBQ): it is a 20-item questionnaire developed by Wright [23], which measures craving beliefs about the substance use. Scoring is based on a 7-point Likert scale. In order to obtain the overall score of the questionnaire, the total points of the questions are summed. The total score is ranged from 20 to 140. The high score indicates the greater craving beliefs about the substance use. CBQ has an appropriate validity and reliability and its reliability has been reported 0.95 using Cronbach's alpha coefficient [23]. Its face validity and content validity have also been confirmed by the relevant experts [24]. In the present study, Cronbach's alpha was 0.76. The distress tolerance and craving beliefs variables were measured in two groups in the pre-test. MBRP for substance use intervention based on Marlatt [6] model was performed for 2 months in 8 1.5-hour sessions for the experimental group and the control group did not receive any intervention. After the intervention sessions, all subjects in the two groups completed DTS and CBQ questionnaires in the post-test. Normality of the data was analyzed by Shapiro-Wilk test and data was analyzed using covariance analysis.

The mean age of participants in the experimental and the control groups were 33.25±11.84 and 36.66±14.34 years, respectively. 22 subjects (55%) were male and 18 subjects (45%) were female. 9 subjects (22.5%) had primary school education, 4 subjects (10%) had secondary school education, 18 subjects (45%) had high school education and high school diploma, and 9 subjects (22.5%) had university education. The mean score of distress tolerance in the experimental group in the post-test was increased compared with the pre-test and the mean score of the craving beliefs decreased in the experimental group in the post-test compared with the pre-test (Table 2). There was a significant difference between the moderated mean scores of distress tolerance in the experimental group and the control group in the post-test (p=0.001). This effect was 27% in the post-test, indicating that 52% of post-test scores were related to the impact of the intervention. There was a significant difference between the moderated mean scores of the participants’ craving beliefs in the experimental group and the control group in the post-test (p=0.001). This effect was 26% in the post-test, which means that 26% of the post-test scores were related to the effect of the intervention.

According to the results, MBRP intervention had a significant effect on the defects of distress tolerance. These findings are consistent with previous findings [25, 26]. The findings of this study showed that MBRP intervention had a significant effect on craving beliefs deficits. These findings are consistent with previous findings [6, 29]. It has been extensively stated that mental training exercises can lead to changes in thinking patterns or person’s attitudes about his thoughts. For example, Kabat-Zinn [14], recommends that the ability to experience pain and anxiety-related thoughts without judgment may lead to recognize them simply as thoughts and do not represent reality or truth and should not necessarily be avoided or escaped. … [30].

According to the findings of this study on the effectiveness of the mindfulness-based methamphetamine relapse prevention, it is suggested to be used for therapeutic purposes as well as its practical development in addiction recovery centers and psychological workshops.

None declared.

MBRP is effective on distress tolerance and craving beliefs in methamphetamine dependent patients, and it also reduces anxiety and Mind ruminations.

The researchers are thankful from the patients participating in this research, as well as the officials and staff of the Behbood addiction recovery center of Kashan as well as the head of Kashan city prison.

This research was based on student thesis and there were no conflicts of interests.

Prior to the research, all participants were informed about the research objectives and procedures, and the written informed consent was received for the MBRP intervention.

This research was supported by the authors.

TABLES and CHARTS

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