effectiveness of mindfulness-based group therapy compared to the usual opioid dependence treatment

objective: this study investigated the effectiveness of mindfulness-based group therapy (mbgt) compared to the usual opioid dependence treatment (tau).thirty outpatients meeting the dsm-iv-tr criteria for opioid dependence from iranian national center for addiction studies (incas) were randomly assigned into experimental (mindfulness-based group therapy) and control groups (the usual treatment).the experimental group undertook eight weeks of intervention, but the control group received the usual treatment according to the incas program. methods: the five factor mindfulness questionnaire (ffmq) and the addiction sevier index (asi) were administered at pre-treatment and post-treatment assessment periods. thirteen patients from the experimental group and 15 from the control group completed post-test assessments. results: the results of mancova revealed an increase in mean scores in observing, describing, acting with awareness, non-judging, non-reacting, and decrease in mean scores of alcohol and opium in mbgt patient group. conclusion: the effectiveness of mbgt, compared to the usual treatment, was discussed in this paper as a selective protocol in the health care setting for substance use disorders.