Addiction and Positive Psychology, Investigating the Effectiveness of Well-being Therapy on the Severity of Addiction in Methamphetamine-Dependent Male Patients, a Randomized Clinical Trial

Positive psychology is a modern branch of psychology, which has replaced relying on the capabilities to the pathological cognitive aspect. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of well-being therapy on addiction severity index in stimulant dependent males. In a single-site trial, a single-site randomized clinical trial with pre-test and post-test control group of fifty men (18-45 years old with an average age of 29.4) in the phase of avoiding Methamphetamine were selected from clients hospitalized in Residential Camp (drugs) in Karaj city using random sampling method and they were randomly assigned to experimental (n = 25) and control (n = 25) groups using Excel Office software. The experimental group received 12 weekly sessions (50 minutes each session) Ryff's grouping well-being therapy and the control group received only routine treatments of the center. Then, the two groups were evaluated in two stages of pre-test and post-test by the questionnaire of addiction severity (response rate = 92%). Participants received twice-weekly urine tests with a threshold of 30 Nanograms per milliliter to ensure adherence to avoidance from using. Data were analyzed by one-way ANCOVA (analysis of covariance). Also, qualitative data derived from demographic evaluations were coded and analyzed using Atlas.ti-5.2 data analysis tools. Data analysis showed that the well-being therapy had a significant effect on the improvement of the addiction severity index with a confidence interval of 26.4 (18.85-33.95) (p<0.001). The findings of this study can be useful in evaluating, designing health interventions and future research pathways in methamphetamine users.