The Effectiveness of Group Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on Emotion Regulation in Methamphetamine-Dependent Individuals Undergoing Rehabilitation

Background: Emotion regulation is a major and important incentive for substance abuse; in fact, substance abusers associate their abuse with the substance’s soothing nature. Emotion regulation can be defined as the process, which enables individuals to regulate experiences and express emotions. Objectives: The goal of the current study was to evaluate the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on emotion regulation in methamphetamine-dependent individuals undergoing rehabilitation. Patients and Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study of pretest-posttest design with a control group (where follow-up was also done). The population under study consisted of Methamphetamine-dependent individuals undergoing rehabilitation (MDUR), who were inpatients and outpatients of Tehran’s medical centers. First, 30 MDUR, who were in the withdrawal stage were selected. Then, based on interest to participate in group therapy and matching, they were assigned to the test and control group. Mindfulness-based acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) in eight sessions (eight weeks) with 1.5-hour duration was done. The tool used for this project was Gratz and Roemer’s difficulties in emotion regulation scale. Repeated measures Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used for analyzing the data. Results: Group ACT caused a significant decrease in emotion regulation scores (P < 0.001) and its following dimensions, including non-acceptance (P = 0.03), difficulties engaging in goal directed behavior (P = 0.002), impulse control difficulties (P = 0.027), and limited access to emotion regulation strategies (P = 0.038). However, it could not significantly decrease the lack of emotional awareness and clarity dimensions. Conclusions: Group acceptance and commitment therapy improved emotion regulation in methamphetamine-dependent individuals and enabled them to regulate experiences and express emotions that are very effective in controlling cravings and retention in treatment and prevention of recurrence.