Background: Drug addiction is a pervasive global problem that has become a source of concern for many human societies and its prevalence is increasing rapidly in the world and in Iran. Addiction as one of the health, psychological, and social problems of the present century affect the physical, emotional, cognitive and social dimensions of the addicted person. Various psychological therapies have been proposed to improve the psychological symptoms of addiction, one of which is eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy. Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of EMDR on improving executive functions, cognitive emotion regulation and temptation control in drug-dependent patients.
Methodology: The research method was quasi-experimental with pretest-posttest design with control group. The sample consisted of 30 men with drug addiction who were randomly selected from the pilgrims of Milad Camp in Borazjan and randomly assigned to two groups of 15 experimental and control. Research instruments included clinical interview based on DSM-5, Wisconsin Card Classification Test (Grant and Berg, 1948), Tower of London Computer Test (Shallis, 1982), Stroop Test (Stroop, 1935), Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (Garnowski and Et al., And the Temptation Questionnaire (Wright, 2003). After performing the pre-test, the experimental group underwent EMDR for 6 sessions and the control group remained on the waiting list. Then the subjects of both groups completed the post-test questionnaires. Results: Findings of multivariate analysis of covariance showed that EMDR had a significant effect on reducing maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and increasing adaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies. EMDR treatment also significantly increased flexibility of mind and problem solving, but had no significant effect on controlling temptation and inhibition of response.
Conclusions: As a result, EMDR therapy can be used through