The effectiveness of behavioral activator group therapy on resiliency and metacognitive beliefs of opioid addicts

A review of research shows that opioid addicts have problems with resiliency and metacognitive beliefs. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of behavioral activator group therapy on resiliency and metacognitive beliefs of opioid addicts.

The research method was quasi-experimental pre-test-post-test with a control group. From the community of people addicted to opiates at Alborz Clinic in Tehran, 25 samples were selected by available methods and randomly divided into two groups. Initially, for both groups, Connor and Davidson (2003) and Wells et al (2004) metacognitive beliefs pretest were performed on both groups, and then the behavioral activator group therapy was performed in 8 sessions on the experimental group. Two post-test groups were taken. Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was used to analyze the data.

The results of data analysis showed that behavioral activator group therapy increases resiliency and decreases metacognitive beliefs of uncontrollable control, positive beliefs about cognition, low cognitive confidence, need to control thoughts and cognition of drug addicts. Opium in the experimental group was compared with the control group (p≤ 0.001).

In order to improve the resiliency and metacognitive beliefs of opioid addicts, it is recommended to use behavioral activating group therapy.