Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to examine the role of individual and social factors in continuation of treatment as well as relapse for opium dependent patients.

Method: 920 upload dependent patients admitted to the self-referring clinic at the Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences (RUMS) were selected through random sampling as the subjects of the survey. In an ad hoc study, the subjects were monitored through a six-month follow up period. The data were collected through an demographic questionnaire.

Findings: The results indicated 28.7% of the subjects had successful opium withdrawal, but 15.7% of them relapsed in less than 6 months, and only 119 subjects (12.9%) remained clean at the 6- month follow-up screening. In addition, there were significant differences found between the successful withdrawal group, unsuccessful withdrawal group, and the relapsed group across the following parameters: age, employment, marital status, ownership of a place of residence, type of opium, the usage route, daily dosage, initiation age, experience with other drugs, prior experiences with injection and abstinence.

Results: Successful treatment cannot be judged with reference to a single variable rather, there are a number of intervening factors that determine the prognosis of treatment, of which the addict’s personal and social characteristics constitute only a part. 

Objectives: The present study focuses on the techniques of controlling thoughts and depression/anxiety-inducing mental images such as attention diversion and thought stopping to control thoughts and mental images related to craving of opiates. It also attempted to clear and control the subjects' environments to prevent possible temptation.

Method: This study followed an experimental design. The subjects were selected from an available sample and randomly assigned to an experimental group and a control group, each comprised of 30 subjects. For a period of three weeks, the subjects in the experimental group were provided with twice a week training sessions of an educational program on environment control, attention diversion, and thought stopping, with each session lasting 35 minutes. The control group received the normal treatment used in the clinic. A 30-item questionnaire to obtain demographic information along with a daily scale to determine the frequency of temptations as well as its duration were utilized.

Findings: The results showed that after 6 months, 19 out of 30 subjects in the experimental group were “clean”, from opium whereas in the control group the number of “clean” subjects in the same period was 4 out of 30. During the 6th month, the daily average frequency of using thoughts was 0.89 in the experimental group in the control group it was 1.1, the difference of which was not statistically significant. The duration of such thoughts in the 6th month was 5.8 minutes per day for the experimental group, and 38.7 minutes for the control group this difference was significant.

Results: Training on cleaning the environment, attention diversion, and thought stopping keeps more subjects clean in the experimental group up to six months. It also reduces the duration of temptations, but does not lead to any significant difference in the daily frequency of temptations. In general, application of this technique reduces temptation and craving.