The Effectiveness of Compassion Focused Training on Emotion Regulation Difficulties in Recovering Addicts

Iraj Shakerinia¹ Seyed Valiollah Mosavi² Mehdi Rouhani³

1) Associate Professor of Department of Psychology, University of Guilan, Guilan, Iran
2) Associate Professor of Department of Psychology, University of Guilan, Guilan, Iran
3) Master of General Psychology, Department of Literature and Humanities, University of Guilan, Guilan, Iran

IOI Code : XEAE-GCCAG
Publication : 2th National Conference on Psychopathology(asruma2.ir)
Abstract :
    The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of compassion focused training on emotion regulation difficulties in recovering addicts. In this study, a semi-experimental design was used as a pretest-posttest with a control group. The population of this study included all recovering addicts of the addiction recovery center of Return to Life in Langroud city, from whom 30 people were selected based on convenience sampling method, and were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. In the pre-test and post-test stages, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale were used. The experimental group received 8 sessions of compassion focused training while the control group did not receive any intervention. Univariate analysis of covariance was used to analyze the total scores of emotion regulation difficulties and results showed that by eliminating the effect of pre-test, compassion focused training significantly reduces emotion regulation difficulties in recovering addicts.. The results also showed that compassion focused training decreased all subscales of emotion regulation difficulties, except for two subscales of Difficulty engaging in Goal-directed behaviour and Limited access to emotion regulation strategies. Based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded that compassion focused training is a appropriate method to increase perceived social support of recovering addicts. Therefore, it is better to use the compassion focused training method in addiction treatment centers.

Keywords : compassion focused training emotion regulation difficulties recovering addicts