Comparison of the Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Metacognitive Therapy on Substance Craving in Patients with Substance Use Disorder

Background: Drug abuse, as one of the chronic psychiatric diseases, has become one of the major problems in societies today. Objectives: The present study aimed to compare the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and metacognitive therapy in substance craving in patients on methadone maintenance treatment. Methods: This quasi-experimental study adopted a pretest-posttest control group design. The statistical population comprised all patients with drug abuse in Mashhad who were actively getting methadone therapy. A total of 60 patients getting methadone maintenance therapy who were referred to Mashhad substance addiction treatment institutions during the second half of 2019 were selected as the sample. They were randomly assigned to two test groups (ACT and metacognitive groups) and a control group. Data were analyzed in  SPSS software  (version 24). Results: The results demonstrated that the ACT and metacognitive therapy are effective in the reduction of craving in patients on methadone maintenance treatment (P 0.01). Conclusion: As evidenced by research findings, it can be concluded that the ACT is more effective than metacognitive therapy in the reduction of cravings in patients on methadone maintenance treatment.