Analysis of Emotional-sentimental Actions in Addiction Treatment (A Qualitative Study based on Grounded Theory Approach)

The phenomenon of addiction is one of the great problems of human societies. Drug and psychotropic addiction are considered as the fourth global crises along with the three global crises of poverty, environmental destruction, and nuclear threat. Drugs are complex and multifaceted phenomena that are influenced by multiple physical, psychological, social, spiritual, and cultural factors, so the application of any treatment program that emphasizes these dimensions can be effective. Therefore, the present study, considering emotional activities as one of the effective factors in the treatment of addiction, seeks to study the treatment process of addiction at this center to analyze the experiences of those who have improved with this method in Isfahan Abolfazli Board as one of the therapist group that focused on treatment through emotional activities.  

The research method was qualitative based on the theory of systematic approach. The participants of the study were twenty-three individuals recovered by emotional actions in Abolfazli Board of in Isfahan. The sampling method in this study was purposive. Depth interviewing and participatory observation techniques were used to collect research data and three methods of open coding, axial and selective coding were used to analyze the data. In order to validate the research, current accreditation techniques were used in the field theory method, including control or accreditation by members of analytical systems and external evaluator or inspector technique.  

The research findings indicated that emotional interactions in the treatment of addiction in the study position revolved around a core category called ‘rituals as the bedrock of emancipatory affective actions’ and several major categories of components of the paradigm model research were causal conditions like emotional communication, rhythmic movements, shaman personality and sense of freedom; contextual conditions such as religious rituals, excitement and arousal; interventionist conditions of music, poetry, space and place, mourning, vectors of emotion; action-interactions includig spiritual connection, phase taking and perspiration. The main outcomes were physical and mental therapy of people with drug addiction. The most important result of the present study was a situation in which the rituals serve as a bedrock for emotional activities leading to the treatment of addicts and their relief from the disease. In other words, the main context for the formation and activity of Abolfazli Board as one of the addiction treatment centers acting in a distinct and largely unique way in the treatment of addiction was the rituals and activities associated with this phenomenon. Setting up rituals and performing them provided the basis for the emergence of emotional actions that, in addition to establishing the spiritual connection of the person referred to with sacred power, provided a context for their mobility and physical activity that leaded to high sweating resulting in the removal of toxins from their bodies and unwilling to take drugs. Therefore, it can be said that the treatment of addiction occurs in the context of rituals, through emotional actions, a treatment that liberates the consumer from the troubles, mental and physical limitations of drug abuse. All that is happening in the context of rituals that are influenced by emotional activities is a topic that is the main focus and goal of most addiction treatment methods and that is the detoxification of the body of addicts. In other words, detoxification, or the removal of drug-related toxins from the body of addicts, is a subject that is followed in most addiction treatment modalities. But, what sets the detoxification process apart from other methods in the context of the study is the use of emotional actions and persistently high sweating that occurs in the healing room with the characteristics mentioned earlier. Therefore, it should be said that people's involvement in emotional activities at the center of leaving AbolFazli, in addition to the mental, emotional actions, and behavioral changes that occur for the clients, is the most important consequence and a purely biological and chemical phenomenon known as detoxification of these individuals through high sweating, which ultimately results in their treatment.