Dissociative Experiences Among Methadone Maintenance Treatment Patients

Background: According to “chemical dissociation” hypothesis, it is suggested that substance use disorder patients may not experience a high level of dissociation due to substance use, they may experience some level of dissociative-like states. There are few and albeit contradictory reports about prevalence of dissociative experiences among patients with substance use disorder. Objectives: The aim of this study was to consider the dissociative experiences among patients referred to Addiction Treatment Clinic of Baharan Hospital of Psychiatry, Zahedan, IR Iran. Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 231 patients, referred to MMT Clinic of Baharan Psychiatric Hospital in Zahedan, were studied. Sampling was convenient and patients were divided to two groups, including those receiving less than 60 mg of methadone daily (group A) and those receiving equal or more than 60 mg of methadone daily (group B). Dissociative experiences scale (DES) and addiction severity index (ASI) forms were completed. Finally, data were analyzed by using SPSS version 19 and independent t-test. Results: A total of 231 patients participated in this study. Mean age of patients was 33.98.0 (P = 0.053). They included 204 males (88.3%) and 27 females (11.7%) (P = 0.328). Total mean DES score was 15.311.7. Mean DES scores were 15.611.2 in group A and 16.1 11.7% in group B (t (1) = -0.1, P = 0.827). Addiction severity index were 0.741.69 in patients with DES scores more than 30 and 0.43 1.51 in patients with DES scores less than 30 (t (1) = 1.1, P value = 0.204). Conclusions: Based on the current study, it can be concluded that different dosages of methadone induce the same chemical dissociation and this has no significant relationship with different areas of ASI.