Comparison of the Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Mindfulness and Motivational Interviewing on Distress Tolerance in Men with Substance Abuse Disorder Undergoing Maintenance Therapy

Substance abuse, as one of the four crises of the 21st century, and also the most important cause of high-risk behaviors. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Mindfulness and Motivational Interviewing on distress tolerance in men with substance abuse disorders undergoing maintenance treatment. The research design was a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest with a control group. The statistical population included all men with Robat Karim opioid abuse disorder who referred to substance abuse treatment centers in this city from March 2017 to June 2014. Among them, a sample of 72 people was selected using cluster random sampling method and randomly placed in three experimental groups and one control group. The Simmons and Gaher (2005) Distress Tolerance Questionnaire was used to collect data. The experimental groups underwent ten sessions of 50 minutes under the group of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Motivational Interview and Mindfulness. The results of one-way analysis of covariance showed that there is a significant difference between all three treatment approaches based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Mindfulness and Motivational Interview and the control group in the degree of anxiety tolerance of men with substance abuse disorder. Also, there is no significant difference between Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Mindfulness groups. But the mean of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy group is higher than the average of Motivational Interview group (p <0.001). Also, the mean of mindfulness group was higher than the mean of motivational interview group (p <0.001).