The Effect of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) on Emotional Regulation and Distress Tolerance of addicted women leaving: The mediating role of Mindfulness, Effective Communication and Emotional Cognitive Regulation Strategies

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) on emotional regulation and distress tolerance of addicted women leaving by the mediating role of mindfulness, effective communication and emotional cognitive regulation strategies. The research method was quasi-experimental with pretest-posttest design and control group. The statistical population included all addicted women leaving in Isfahan city. The sample consisted of 60 women prisoners leaving drugs who were selected based on available sampling and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. Measurement tools included the Negative Mood Regulation Questionnaire (Catanzaro & Mearns, 1990), the Distress Tolerance Scale (Simmons & Gaher, 2005) and the Researcher Made Behavioral-Emotional Questionnaire. Data were analyzed by using analysis of covariance and analysis of variance. Findings showed that dialectical behavior therapy has led to increased emotion regulation skills and tolerance of anxiety in the experimental group (P <0.001), and the effect of this treatment remains until the quarterly follow-up. Also, the mediating role of mindfulness, effective communication and emotional cognitive regulation strategies in post-test was statistically significant (P <0.05).