Investigating the effectiveness of cognitive therapy in reducing dysfunctional attitudes and drug-related beliefs in drug abusers in Ilam city.

Dissertation for Master in Psychology (M.A)

Treatment: Clinical

Abstract

Considering that one of the most common psychiatric disorders is addiction, "cognitive therapy" is a tool that therapists use to control and treat addiction by influencing thoughts and beliefs, for this purpose, the present study aims to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive therapy in reducing dysfunctional attitudes and drug-related beliefs in people with Drug abuse in Ilam city took place in 2013. The current research design was semi-intrusive with pre-test and post-test with a control group and a follow-up period. The statistical population included 40 people with substance abuse who referred to addiction centers, who were randomly placed in two groups of 20 people. The tools used were drug-related beliefs by Wright and Beck (1993) and the Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale (DAS). The results of covariance analysis showed that there is a significant difference between the experimental group and the control group, in the follow-up phase, in terms of substance-related beliefs and ineffective attitudes. Among the demographic variables, education and income had a relationship with dysfunctional attitudes and substance-related beliefs. Overall, by proving the positive effect of cognitive therapy on drug-related thoughts and beliefs and reducing dysfunctional attitudes, it is suggested that therapists, psychologists, and therapists pay more attention to and use this approach. Keywords: substance abuse, cognitive therapy, drug-related beliefs, dysfunctional attitudes. 1-1- Introduction Substance abuse is one of the most serious human problems. It is in recent years that it weakens the foundations of human society and its prevention requires the application of numerous theories in different scientific fields and diverse methods and techniques (Alai et al. 2019, 52), according to the report of the United Nations Office on Drug Abuse and Crime[1], Iran has the largest number of opioid abusers in proportion to the population in the world, and the highest prevalence of abuse is 8.2% in It exists between people in Iran (Ziayi 1388, 42). Until now, sociologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, and researchers and specialists in general have enumerated many causes and factors for drug addiction and abuse based on their views. Based on the exploratory studies, these factors can be divided into three levels: micro, medium, and macro. What is meant by the level of wisdom is the psychological point of view. Therefore, all the factors that are related to the person, his personality and even his physical and mental discomforts are examined (Miri Ashtiani 2015, 40), among the individual variables that influence drug use, ineffective attitudes and drug-related beliefs can be mentioned, which are the two main variables considered in the current research. In this context, it can be acknowledged that many therapists believe that emotional reactions and behavior are created by cognitive processes. Therefore, thoughts, beliefs and other cognitive processes are the main determinants of mood and emotion (Tizdil[2] 1997; quoted by Azargun and Kajbaf, 2010, 80). According to the brief explanation, the current study was conducted with the aim of determining the effectiveness of cognitive therapy in correcting dysfunctional attitudes and drug-related beliefs in people who abuse drugs in Ilam city, so that this type of treatment can be used as a complementary treatment in the field of improving mental health and one of the preventive factors in people who abuse drugs, as well as effective coping approaches to control consumption and prevent drug addicts from returning to drug abuse with an emphasis on psychological variables.

1-2- Statement of the problem

One of the issues that is now being discussed in all human societies and is analyzed as a very dangerous and harmful social problem. The problem is addiction. Unfortunately, this problem is common in all societies among the strata, and a person goes after it without knowing the end result, and maybe it is increasing day by day in the global statistics of addiction. Taking serious and firm steps to find the root of this problem will be of fundamental importance (Hosseini 2019, 5). So that drug addiction is one of the most important and common social harms in today's societies (Daly and Marlat[3] 2005).In recent years, significant progress has been made in the field of substance abuse at various levels of etiology, diagnosis, and treatment, and multidisciplinary approaches and biological, psychological, social, and spiritual patterns have been used in treatment (Brock and Spitz [4] 2002). One of the tools used by therapists is "Cognitive Therapy [5]," which is widely used in the treatment of diseases, including the treatment of drug addiction. Cognitive therapy or more precisely, cognitive therapy is one of the methods of psychological treatment that is currently used all over the world as one of the standard types of treatment for many psychological disorders. In this method, it is assumed that one of the causes of many psychological disorders is problems in the patient's thinking or beliefs, and by correcting these beliefs, the patient can be helped. This treatment also emphasizes on changing behavior in accordance with more correct thinking (Hasan Shahi 2012). In this psychological method, the therapist tries to examine his thoughts and beliefs during his meetings with the patient. Most people who experience substance abuse have destructive thoughts and beliefs that are considered the cause of the patient's unpleasant feelings. In general, these people have beliefs that regularly crush their self-esteem and blame their existence. In this state of cognition, the therapist tries to show the patient using different techniques that these beliefs are cognitive errors and cannot be true in all situations (Fisher and Wells [6] 2008), the therapist's cognition helps the person to believe that not all people always behave according to their wishes or that not all things always go according to their wishes. Ibn Amr helps a person to change his cognitions (Kaviani et al. 2017), based on researches and investigations, addiction processes are influenced by a person's beliefs and attitudes (Holman [7] 2004), attitudes that are sometimes and often incorrect, ineffective attitudes are the assumptions and orientation beliefs that a person has about himself, the world, the surroundings and the future (Abla and Skitch [8] 2007) These attitudes cause the orientation of a person's understanding and perception of events and affect feelings and behaviors and make a person prone to depression and other psychological disturbances. Cognitive therapy is a psychotherapeutic system that tries to reduce emotional process reactions and self-intoxicating behavior by correcting faulty or erroneous thinking and maladaptive beliefs that underlie these reactions (Beck, Rush and Shaw [9] 1979; quoted by Gooderzi 2018), in fact, cognitive addiction treatments focus on helping the patient to acquire the necessary coping skills in order to manage dangerous situations and treat disorders. They are psychologically focused. (Haji Alizadeh 1387, 68) Some studies have shown that the attitude of people corresponds to their cognitive and emotional responses (Farhoudian 1381), so that the chance of developing mental disorders within a year increases significantly if the scores of dysfunctional attitude increase (Veich [10] et al. 2003). In this way, because failure of thinking is one of the most important causes of disturbances (Wallen [11] et al. 1992), the more ineffective attitudes and irrational beliefs of people increase, the more emotional disturbances will increase (Smith and Hustenkent [12] 1983; Watson [13] et al. 1998). Another variable considered in the current research is beliefs related to drug use. Drug-related beliefs refer to a group of beliefs that are focused on pleasure-seeking, problem solving, relief, and escape. The content of these specific beliefs will be different depending on the type of drug of interest (Goldsmith [14] et al. 2009). Today, researchers have proven that one of the most important effective factors for a person to be drawn into the mire of addiction are false beliefs such as the fact that drugs are relaxing, help to forget and escape from problems, a sign of greatness, and so on. is; Therefore, researchers emphasize that psychologists in the field of cognitive therapy should help addicts reduce dysfunctional attitudes and related beliefs. In cognitive theories, it is assumed that drug abuse is influenced by the person's cognitive beliefs and expectations of drug use, and is subject to the emotional value that a person places on the consequences of his behavior. As a result, the educational intervention provides conditions where the person is exposed to different expectations and feelings in the group and is challenged in the process of confrontation with other group members.