The effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy on mental well-being of opiate-consumers

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is one of the techniques for shaping behavior and procedure for changing non-adaptive beliefs by using cognitive-behavioral theory to treat addiction disorders. This study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of cognitive therapy based on mindfulness on mental well-being of opioid users.

The present study was conducted in a pretest-posttest experimental design that was conducted among addicted drug users in Sanandaj City, Iran, in 2016. To conduct the research, 20 subjects were selected by available sampling method and randomly divided into two groups of experimental and control (each one: 10 subjects). The experimental group received knowledge about cognitive therapy for 8 sessions of 90 minutes, but no training was provided for the control group. The data gathering tool in both groups was used before and after mindfulness training, and the Mental Well-being Questionnaire was used. Data were analyzed using independent t-test.

Mindfulness therapy had a significant effect on subjective well-being of opium users. Thus, the mean scores of the variable of the overall index of mental well-being in the experimental group were significantly lower than the control group in the post-test with the control of the effect of the pre-test (P < 0.001).

Findings of the present study suggest that cognitive therapy based on mind-awareness strategies helps people to replace reasonable beliefs with irrational beliefs in order to achieve new insights that seek to communicate with others and improve subjective well-being.