Citation

Lin MF, Lang SY. Heroin Addict. Relat. Clin. Probl. 2021; 23(4): 5-14.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, European Opiate Addiction Treatment Association, Publisher Pacini Editore)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

BACKGROUND: As soon as the sharing of needles to inject heroin became a common habit, AIDS started to become more prevalent, and Harm-Reduction Alternative Therapy was launched to solve the problem of HIV infection. Despite that initiative, the rate of heroin recidivism remained high for many years after the new policy was launched. After taking these premises into consideration, the present study was designed to test the effectiveness of treatment, besides using qualitative data to help explain the findings. A further aim has been to gain a better understanding of the role played by drug beliefs in drug dependence, so as to provide guidelines for treatment.

METHODS: The subjects included in this study were 82 heroin addicts who participated in 6 ½-month cognitive behaviour group therapy led by our research team. The tools comprised a collection of Drug Beliefs, Craving for Drugs, Intentional Relapse, and Severity of Dependence. SPSS statistical pack-age software was used for repeated measurement ANOVA and regression analysis. Further use of qualitative analysis to help explain the findings of quantitative research and, lastly, the Sobel test was applied to confirm the intermediate effect.

RESULTS: 1) There were significant differences in drug beliefs, especially as regards the reduction of outcome expectations and underestimating the severity of drug addiction. 2) The study did not find moderate effects, but it turned out that in the relationships between drug craving (Sobel test t=2.1733, p=.0297), emotional inducement (Sobel test t=2.1606, p=.0307) and drug dependence, underestimating drug addiction played a mediating role, with explanatory powers of 19% and 22.9%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS: The study found that underestimating drug addiction played a mediating role, which showed that long-term heroin addicts may display heroin dependence through an underestimation of their addiction. © 2021, Pacini Editore S.p.A./AU-CNS. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

adult; human; cognition; suicide; female; male; psychotherapy; suicidal ideation; prevalence; anxiety; psychosis; major depression; anorexia nervosa; body image; drug abuse; Taiwan; alcohol consumption; major clinical study; questionnaire; expectation; psychiatrist; behavior; marriage; sexual behavior; automutilation; practice guideline; alternative medicine; psychometry; emotional stress; relapse; qualitative analysis; group therapy; phobia; heroin dependence; analysis of variance; quantitative analysis; Article; harm reduction; recidivism; medication compliance; data analysis software; cognitive behavioral therapy; drug craving; craving; Drug Beliefs; Drug Craving; Harm-Reduction Alternative Therapy; Intention to Relapse