The Effects of Cognitive Orientation Group Treatment on Amphetamine Abusers

• Main Authors: Chen-Heng Chiang, 江振亨
• Other Authors: none
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2005
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/90272927509238831656

博士 === 國立中正大學 === 犯罪防治所 === 93 === This thesis was based on the results of a series of related studies about abstinence treatments on amphetamine abusers. The primary purpose of the thesis was to evaluate the effects of twelve sessions of cognitive orientation group treatment (COGT), which contained cognitive therapy, self-instructional training, concept-mapping skills, schema therapy and thought stopping, on amphetamine abusers. Four studies had been conducted in this thesis. In study 1, the methodology of a self-reported questionnaire and interview to survey 33 amphetamine abusers in order to explore their relapse factors and cognition about drug use had been adopted. Data were derived from procedures of the phenomenological analysis. In study 2, the relationships among personality, irrational beliefs in drug users, cravings for drugs and intention to relapse was investigated for a group of 254 adult male amphetamine abusers, who were drawn at random from seven drug treatment centers in Taiwan. Multiple regression analyses were used to ascertain the predictors of relapse. In study 3, based on the findings of studies done before this thesis, the cognitive orientation group treatment program had been designed to treat ten drug abusers in a pilot study to examine the feasibility of the program, and then developed the complete treatment program. The 20 adult male amphetamine abusers incarcerated in the prison were randomly divided into two ten-member groups, including the experimental group and the control group in study 4, to evaluate the effects of the cognitive orientation group treatment on them. The pretest-posttest design was adopted in this study. All subjects were administered by the inventories, including personality, irrational beliefs in using drugs, craving for drugs and intention to relapse. Results were as follows: 1. The risk factors of relapse included: those with cravings for drugs, those who were bored, those easily influenced by friends who used drugs, those with readily available drugs, those with habitually bad moods, those desiring relief from the effects of alcohol, those desiring energy to work, those desiring to cope with or escape from difficult situations in life, those with pre-existing drug using cognitive biases including outcome expectancies, those who underestimated the risk of being addicted to drugs, those with self-devaluation with dependency on drugs, and those who considered themselves able to overcome drug abuse on their own. 2. The predictive relation to relapse found by multiple aggression analyses were as follows: a. Prudence and problem solving can explain about 26.5% of the variance of the irrational beliefs in using drugs. b. Problem solving, outcome expectancies, self-devaluation with dependency on drugs and underestimation of the risk of being addicted to drugs can explain about 54.4% of the variance of the craving for drugs. c. Craving for drugs, self-devaluation with dependency on drugs and prudence can explain about 37.4% of the variance of intention to relapse. d. Those subjects who had stronger cravings for drugs and outcome expectancies, and had lower self-esteem, experience a stronger intention to relapse, which was induced by emotions. e. Those subjects who had stronger cravings for drugs and self-devaluation with dependency on drugs, experience a stronger intention to relapse, which was induced by circumstances. f. Those subjects who had stronger cravings for drugs and outcome expectancies, and had lower prudence and problem-solving ability, experience a stronger intention to relapse, which was induced by their acceptance of drugs. 3. The effects of cognitive orientation group treatment on the amphetamine abusers were as follows: a. COGT can decrease the levels of irrational beliefs among those using drugs, that is, the treatment can modify the maladaptive beliefs in those using drugs; on the other hand, COGT can reduce the amounts of smoking in amphetamine experiment group. But there were no statistically significant differences between the experimental group and the control group in the posttest of variances of prudence, problem-solving ability, self-esteem, the craving for drugs, and intention to relapse. b. The self-reporting documents gathered from the experimental group showed that groups provided a safe setting for members to break through their sense of isolation, to share their problems and to learn more appropriate social skills, and that COGT had taught positive values to members, promoted their confidence in quitting drugs, and enhanced their self-insight and interaction with others.