Comparison of the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness therapy on the executive function of methamphetamine consuming patients

This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness therapy on the executive performance of methamphetamine-consuming patients. The research method was semi-experimental with a pre-test-post-test design and a control group with a three-month follow-up period. The statistical population of this research includes all addicts who were referred to addiction treatment clinics in Tehran between September and February 2021. 45 people were selected purposefully and randomly assigned to two experimental groups and one control group. The research tool was the Wisconsin Grant and Berg (WCST, 1948) card sorting test. Cognitive behavioral therapy intervention by Frey (2008) and mindfulness by Craft and Williams (2012) was implemented during 8 sessions on the members of the experimental group, but the control group did not receive any intervention. The data were analyzed by repeated measures analysis of variance test. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the groups in the post-test and follow-up of the executive performance of methamphetamine users (P<0.05) and both treatments had a significant effect on the correct classes completed, remaining errors and total errors (P<0.05). Mindfulness therapy has been superior to cognitive behavioral therapy in affecting the variables of survival errors in the post-test phase (P<0.05). Therefore, it can be said that mindfulness treatment is more effective in the effectiveness of one of the components of executive functions, so mindfulness can be used in the treatment of people addicted to methamphetamine.