Determination of the Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Spiritual Schema Activation Treatment in Reducing Drug Abuse Related Symptoms and Impulse Control in Men Addicted to Methamphetamine

Over the two recent decades, the incidence and prevalence of methamphetamine or crystal abuse has become a real problem in Iran. Methamphetamine, like many other addictive drugs has a destructive, chronic, and relapsing path. This study aimed to assess the efficacy of mindfulness-based spiritual schema activation therapy method in reducing the related symptoms of drug abuse and impulse control in men patients addicted to methamphetamine. In order to evaluate the hypothesis of the study, a total of 30 men addicted to crystal methamphetamine in one of the largest residential camps in Tehran were randomly recruited and divided into two experimental and control groups. SCID-CV interviews are used to assess the person’s conditions in terms of abuse, and to measure the dependent variables of the study. MAP questionnaires and Barratt Impulsiveness (11th edition) were used in three stages of pre-test, post-test, and follow-up. The results indicates that there seems to be a significant difference at the level of 0.01 between the experimental and control groups in terms of the dependent variables, in the rate of psychological and physiological symptoms, and also impulse control in the post-test and follow-up stages. This difference was found at the 3-month follow-up stage. This study showed that spiritual schema activation treatment based on mindfulness can significantly reduce the symptoms related to both dependent variables.