Comparison of the Effectiveness of Group Mindfulness and Group Metacognitive Therapy on Mental Well-being in Recovered Patients with Substance Abuse Disorder

Addiction has become one of the most serious problems in human society today, and especially in developing countries with young populations, high poverty and unemployment. Substance abusers show signs of disruptive emotion regulation strategies. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of group metacognitive therapy and group mindfulness on mental well-being in improved patients with substance abuse disorder.

This research was a quasi-experimental study with pre-test- post-test with control group. The statistical population was all those with abuse disorder referred to addiction treatment centers in Varamin city. Using convenience sampling, 54 subjects were selected out of which 18 were in the mindfulness treatment group, 18 in the metacognitive therapy group and 18 in the control group. Using convenience sampling, 54 people were selected and replaced in three groups of mindfulness, meta-cognitive therapy and control. In this study, Subjective Well-Being Questionnaire by Keyes, Shmotkin, & Ryff (2002) was used to collect pre-test, post-test and follow-up data. The group metacognitive therapy and group mindfulness were presented in 8 sessions each. The data were analyzed by Covariance analysis method.

The results of Bonferroni test showed that group mindfulness on the components of life satisfaction (P=0.004) and positive affect (P=0.019) in patients recovered from substance abuse disorder were effective.

Mindfulness therapy can break down stressful thoughts to allow one to look at the subject in another way and thus improve mental well-being over time.