A Comparison of the Effectiveness of Cognitive Bias Modification in Real and Placebo Conditions on Attentional Bias and Approach Bias in Opium Abusers

Inability to control drug use is considered a core aspect of drug dependency. Part of this inability is due to cognitive biases resulting from individuals’ constant usage of drugs. The aim of the present study was to compare the effectiveness of cognitive bias modification in real and placebo conditions on attentional bias and approach bias in opium abusers.

This study was a quasi-experimental study with pretest and posttest design and control group. 75 opium abusers in the city of Kerman were selected using purposive sampling, and were later divided into three groups with equal quotient; experiment (real), placebo and control. In order to modify cognitive bias in experiment and placebo groups, computer tasks including dot probe (to modify attentional bias) and approach-avoidance task were used. A combination of each task was implemented in every therapy session.  Real version of cognitive bias modification computer tasks were presented to the experiment group for 8 sessions and the placebo group received placebo version for 8 sessions, whereas the control group received no intervention. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance test by means of SPSS version 22.

After the interventions, findings showed that, as compared with the control (M= -3.16; SD= 73.33) and placebo (M=0.16; SD= 34.36) groups, attentional bias in experiment group (M= 28.28; 38.57) was significantly decreased, and cognitive bias modification therapy reduced cognitive bias in participants (p ≤ 0.05). placebo intervention did not prove to be effective in the reduction of attention bias. Compared to control group, approach bias in experiment and placebo groups, significant difference was observed (p ≤ 0.05).

The findings of the present study indicate the effectiveness of cognitive bias modification on attentional bias and approach bias in opium abusers, which can be used as a cheap and complementary intervention to treat addiction.