The Relationship between locus of control with Success in Methadone Therapy in Substance Abuse Disorder

Introduction: Today, substance abuse and addiction have turned into a social therapeutic problem. Methadone therapy is a handy and useful method but time-consuming and costly. Since success in therapy with methadone conservation depends on different personality factors, determining these factors seems essential. Therefore, present study considers the relationship between the locus of control and success in methadone therapy. Identifying specifications of the people who show a better respond to such a treatment along with correct planning can cause to save familiesʹ time and cost. Methods: The study is a field research and ex post facto. The sample population is composed of the subjects who have all the related criteria whit substance abuse in DSM, IV, and TR. Also they have been under treatment for six months with methadone in one of the treatment centers of Tehran. The sampling method has been purposeful. 87 subjects were chosen randomly and divided into two groups after a urinalysis (i.e. group1=48 successful subjects in methadone therapy and group2=39 subjects who were unsuccessful and used the substance again). Results: Utilizing Rater’s locus of control test in group 1, 41.7% of the people had internal locus of control and 58.3% had external locus of control. In group 2, 48.7% of the subjects had internal and 51.3% of the subjects had external. Calculating the results using SPSS and Independent T-test with df=85 in ? < 0.05, it turned out that there is not significant difference between the groups (T group1=1.042 &T group2=1.070). Discussion: The results show that there is no meaningful relationship between locus of control and success in methadone therapy. Since recognizing the factors effective in success of methadone therapy as a conserving factor lead to save time and cost, it should be noted that there might be other influential factors contribute in success of methadone therapy.