The Relationships of Sensory Processing Sensitivity and Information Processing Styles to Clinical Symptoms in Drug-Dependent Individuals

The aim of this study was to examine the roles of sensory processing sensitivity and information processing styles in predicting clinical symptoms in drug-dependent individuals.

The current study was correlational-descriptive. The statistical population included all drug-dependent individuals referred to addiction treatment centers in Tabriz. Among them, 290 people were selected by cluster sampling. To collect the data, the highly sensitive person scale, the rational- experiential inventory, and the symptoms checklist-90-revised were used. The data were analyzed using Pearson correlation and multiple linear regression.

The results showed that there was a significant positive relationship between sensory processing sensitivity components and pathological indicators such as general severity index, total positive symptoms, and positive symptoms discomfort index, but there was a significant negative relationship between the rational information processing style and the mentioned pathological indicators. There was no significant relationship between experiential information processing and pathological indicators. The results of multiple regression analysis showed that sensory processing sensitivity and rational information processing significantly predicted 38% of the variance of general severity index, 32% of total positive symptoms, and 22% of positive symptoms discomfort index.

According to the results of the present study, it can be concluded that sensory processing sensitivity and information processing styles are among the pathological precedents of clinical symptoms in drug-dependent individuals.