The effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy on the intensity of temptation and craving in women with drug abuse

The intensity of temptation and desire to use is one of the problems of women with substance abuse and they can be among the important risk factors for relapse of addiction. This study was conducted in order to determine the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy on the intensity of temptation and reducing cravings in women with drug abuse in Kerman city. The method of this research was semi-experimental and pre-test-post-test with a control group. The statistical population of this research is all the women addicted to drugs who visited Sepid and Mehr addiction treatment clinics in Kerman from January to March 2017. Using available sampling method, 30 people were selected and randomly divided into two groups (experimental 15 people and control 15 people). The experimental group participated in 12 sessions of 60 minutes a week, cognitive-behavioral therapy, but no intervention was done in the case of the control group. Beck and Clark's (1993) Temptational Belief Questionnaires and Mazinskis et al.'s (1995) Substance Abuse Questionnaires were administered before and after the intervention. Data were analyzed using univariate covariance analysis. The results showed that in the post-test phase, the mean scores of the intensity of temptation and craving for consumption in the experimental group were significantly reduced compared to the control group (P<0.01). According to the findings, it is suggested that cognitive-behavioral therapy can be used as an intervention to reduce the intensity of temptation and craving for consumption.