Effectiveness of emotion regulation training on increasing self-efficacy and well-being in drug-dependent individuals

Background: Emotion plays an important role in adapting to life changes and stressful events. Difficulty regulating emotions is one of the problems drug abusers often face. The present study aimed to determine the effectiveness of emotion regulation training on increasing self-efficacy and well-being in drug-dependent individuals. Materials and Methods: The present study had a quasi-experimental design wherein pretest-posttest evaluations were applied using a control group and follow-up. The population was all substance abusers who referred to the Mehrvarzan addiction treatment clinic of Rafsanjan, Iran, in 2015. The statistical sample was composed of 30 available members. Results: The results showed that the emotion regulation training has significant effectiveness in increasing self-efficacy and well-being in substance abusers. The effectiveness of the training on increasing well-being was persistent in the follow-up period, but increasing self-efficacy was not persistent. Thirty substance-dependent individuals were selected and then randomly assigned to the experiment and control groups. The experiment group received its training in eight 1.5-hour sessions. Analysis of variance with repeated measures was used to analyze the data. There was significant increase in self-efficacy (P < 0.01) and well-being (P < 0.01) after emotion regulation training. Conclusions: Self-efficacy and well-being in drug-dependent individuals of this study were increased by emotion regulation training. We may conclude that the emotion regulation training can be applied alongside other therapies to treat drug abusers in addiction treatment clinic.