The effectiveness of Attentional Bias Modification Therapy with combining operant conditioning on the reduction of attentional bias in Addicts treated with methadone

Attentional bias modification therapy is an emerging therapy for anxiety disorders. it seems that this method of treatment can also reduce the desire to use drugs and cognitive bias in addicts. The aim of the present study is to determine The effectiveness of Attentional Bias Modification Therapy with combining operant conditioning on the reduction of attentional bias in Addicts treated with methadon .. The method of this research was a semi-experimental type with a pre-test, post-test design of three groups with follow-up. Based on the desired criteria, 60 men were randomly selected and assigned to three groups (control, modification of attention bias, modification of attention bias with reinforcement and punishment). Two experimental groups received the interventions and the control group did not receive the intervention. To measure attention bias and interventions, the dot-probe test (McLeod et al., 1986) was used at two stimulus presentation times (600 milliseconds and 200 milliseconds(. The findings showed that there is a significant difference between all three groups in the post-test and follow-up of attention bias and pre-attention bias. In addition, the comparison between the attention bias modification and the attention bias modification group with reinforcement and punishment showed that the attention bias modification group with reinforcement and punishment had less attention bias in the post-test and follow-up. The result is that attention bias modification treatment is an effective intervention, and the use of bias modification treatment with reinforcement and punishment is a more efficient intervention to reduce the bias of addicts treated with methadone