The effectiveness of schema therapy on adaptive and maladaptive strategies of cognitive regulation of emotion and psychological well-being in addicted individuals undergoing preservation treatment with methadone

Schema therapy identifies drug addiction as a primary disorder and considers the activation of primary maladaptive schema and maladaptive avoidance to be an important factor in increasing the relapse of drug dependence among addicted people. The aim of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of schema therapy on adaptive and maladaptive strategies of cognitive regulation of emotion and psychological well-being in addicted individuals undergoing methadone preservation treatment. For this purpose, during a semi-experimental research with pre-test, post-test and control group, 40 addicts undergoing preservation treatment with methadone in Shiraz addiction treatment centers were selected by convenince sampling method and randomly divided into two groups of 20 including the control group and the schema therapy group. Subjects were evaluated at the beginning and end of the study in terms of cognitive regulation of emotion and psychological well-being. The results of multivariate covariance analysis showed that schema therapy increases the adaptive strategy of cognitive regulation of emotion and decreases the score of incompatible strategy of cognitive regulation of emotion and increases psychological well-being. It can be concluded that schema therapy is an effective treatment for the recovery of patients suffering from addiction and this treatment method can be used along with other medicinal methods.