Effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive group therapy on cognitive emotion regulation of patients under treatment with methadone

Introduction: Effectiveness of mindfulness-based therapy on a variety of psychopathological disorders is well documented. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive group therapy on cognitive emotion regulation in patients with substance abuse disorder. Methods: The study had a quasi-experimental design, with pretest, posttest, and two groups (experimental and control). The population of this study included men with substance abuse disorder, who were under methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) in two outpatient methadone clinics in the city of Mashhad from 2014 to 2015. From among them, 60 were selected randomly and allocated to an experimental group and a control group (n = 30 per group). The experimental group underwent eight 1.5 hour sessions of therapeutic interventions held once a week. The tools for data collection consisted of cognitive emotion regulation questionnaire. The control and experimental groups were similar in terms of mean age, education level, and duration of abuse. Results: While similar in pretest, the two groups obtained significantly different scores in the posttest, suggesting the effectiveness of group therapy. Conclusion: Mindfulness-based cognitive group therapy can impact psychological factors involved in opiate addiction. Thus, we can use this approach as a nonpharmacological treatment for these patients.