Comparison of the Difficulty of Emotional Regulation and Distress between Substance Abusers and Normal Individuals

The present study aims to compare the difficulties of emotional regulation and distress between substance abusers and normal individuals. The research method was causal-comparative. The population included all people who self-referred to addiction treatment centers in Aradan city in the winter of 1395/2017. The statistical population of the normal individuals was relatives of substance abusers. A total number of 120 individuals (60 normal people and 60 substance abusers) were selected through a convenient sampling method. The Difficulty in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) and the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress questionnaires (DAS) were used in this study. The result of the study showed that there were significant differences between the components of emotional regulation difficulties (except for the lack of excitement awareness), stress, anxiety, and depression in the group of substance abuser and the normal individual group. In addition, substance abusers had higher scores in the difficulties of emotional regulation questionnaire. Substance abusers also had higher scores in three components: stress, anxiety, and depression. Overall, the results showed that substance abusers have problems in regulating emotions and suffer from anxiety, stress and depression. Therefore, these issues have to be considered by therapists.