The Effectiveness of Metacognitive Therapy on Cognitive Deficits in Elderly with Substance use

The mental health of elderly with substance use has ever been informed by various researcher of this branch. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of metacognitive therapy on cognitive regulation and attentional bias in elderly with substance use in Hamedan city. The method was quasi experimental pretest – posttest design with control group and data was analyzed with Covariance Analysis. Statistical population of this research consisted of all of elderly with substance use who refer to addiction treatment centers of Hamedan city. The sample was 40 elderly with substance use that were selected by multiple-stage cluster sampling method. participants were randomly assigned into experimental and control groups. Participants were asked to complete Stroop Color-Word Test (Bar-Haim, Lamy, Pergamin, Bakermans-Kranenburg, & Van Ijzendoorn, 2007) and cognitive emotional regulation questionnaire (Garnefski, Kraaij, & Spinhoven, 2002) and. Experimental group participated in 8 sessions (1 session a week) Metacognitive Therapy. Each session lasted for 60 minutes. Covariance analysis showed that there is a significant difference between mean scores of experimental and control groups (p<0.001). The results showed that cognitive regulation and attentional bias of elderly with substance use could be influenced by metacognitive therapy.