[Effectiveness of grouped spiritual psychotherapy on patients with opium using disorder]

Introduction: Some scientists believe that the definition of Bio-psychosocial is not a comprehensive definition for humankind. They are willing to add the spirituality as a part of human being

Methods: This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a spiritual group therapy among patients with opium using disorders in Tehran. This study was a clinical trial in which 61 opium users were selected using simple sampling from patient referred to the Iranian national center for addiction studies and two other private centers. Patients were divided into two equal intervention and control groups. The intervention group was treated by spiritual group therapy presented at Yale University, modified according to the Iranian/Islamic culture of the participants within eight sessions in eight weeks. Urine morphine test was done for each participant every week. The Beck depression test, Beck anxiety test and quality of life test [the short form Health survey SF36] were completed before, during and after the intervention

Results: The mean scores of the depression test [p>0.002], anxiety test [p>0.001], and the short form health survey SF 36 test [p>0.001] were improved in the intervention group after the intervention. Although urine morphine test showed a negative trend, the decline was not statistically significant [p<0.75]

Conclusion: This package showed to be effective in many dimensions of psycho-somatic, social and spiritual health of opium users. Subsequent interventions with more modified packages may be more influential

High doses of buprenorphine in one-day opium detoxification: Clinical trial

The efficacy of high doses of buprenorphine prescription in one day was compared with the usual method. In a double-blind trial, 40 patients with the diagnosis of opioid dependence [based on DSM- IV criteria] were randomly assigned into two groups. 20 patients received 12 mg of buprenorphine intramuscularly in divided doses during one day long; 20 other patients were administered the usual decreasing doses of buprenorphine over five days. The followings were evaluated: success rate in detoxification, treatment retention in days, intensity of subjective withdrawal symptoms, intensity of objective withdrawal symptoms, level of drug craving, level of adjuvant drug use, drug side-effects, rate of positive urine tests for opioid, and levels of hepatic enzymes. Data were analyzed via statistical X2, t, Mann-Whitney, and Fisher tests. There was no significant difference between the two groups across most variables. The only difference observed was when the most withdrawal symptoms were evident, which was in the initial part of detoxification for the one-day treatment group and also at the end of the period for the five days treatment group. To shorten the detoxification period, the one-day and high doses of buprenorphine treatment can be beneficial even though further evaluations with a larger sample may be required. However, the use of injectable buprenorphine is not recommended in routine clinical practice, because of its possible abuse and serious side effects

Relation between communication skills and coping mechanisms in substance abusers at Tehran therapeutic community center

This project was conducted to appraise the communication and coping skills of sub-stance abusers residing at a therapeutic community center. It also evaluated the relation between the scores of communication skills and coping strategies. 25 male substance abusers residing at a therapeutic community center in Tehran participated in this descriptive-analytical study. These detoxified subjects were evaluated by two means, Coping Strategies Checklist consisting of problem-focused, emotion- focused, and low effective and uneffective copings; the second mean was Assessment of Communication and Interactional Skills, an observational test composed of three sections of physical aspects, information exchange, and relationships. Data were analyzed by Pearson correlation coefficient. The mean score of problem-focused coping strategy was higher than emotion-focused, and lower effective and uneffective coping scores. The mean score of communication skills was quite high. No significant relation was found between various sections of communication skills and coping strategies. The addicts' communication skills are at an acceptable and appropriate level. Although this group is not a complete representative of substance abusers population, they do not seem to have significant difficulties in terms of communication skills. This is an important matter in planning the content of life skills training, and for this group, it is better to utilize more suitable methods to improve their coping strategies