The role of attachment styles and brain-behavioral systems in substance abuse relapse of opiate addicts

Introduction: The present study aimed to investigate the role of attachment styles and brain-behavioral systems in substance abuse relapse of opiate addicts. Materials and Methods: In this causal-comparative research, 50 addicts with opiate relapse were selected randomly from among those admitted to Omid and Rahaei addiction treatment clinics and MMT government unit of Sabzevar city; 50 addicts with the purity of over one year from among the participants in NA groups and 50 individuals from among non-addicts in Sabzevar city in 2016 through convenience sampling. All the subjects completed Revised Adult Attachment Inventory (RAAI) and Gray-Wilson Personality Questionnaire (GWPQ). For data analysis, univariate and multivariate analysis of variance test, Kruskal Wallis test, and Mann-Whitney U test in SPSS-23 software were applied. Results: The results demonstrated that people with substance abuse relapse compared to the non-affected group and individuals with the purity of over one year had greater insecure ambivalent attachment style (P=0.001). Further, non-addicts relative to pure people suffer from less ambivalent attachment (P=0.012). Although there was no significant difference between pure people and abusers in terms of brain-behavioral systems, the activity of the approach component in the behavioral activation system (BAS), the component of passive avoidance in the behavioral inhibition system (BIS) and the component of flight in the fight-flight system was higher in two groups of people with substance abuse relapse and pure people compared to non-addicts (p < 0.05). Conclusion: It seems that the insecure attachment style and brain-behavioral systems have an important role in substance abuse relapse.