Sustained Remission from Drug Addiction among the Attendees of the Meetings of Anonymous Addicts and Rehabilitation Centers in Mashhad, Iran, During 2017

Background: Addiction is one of the most complex diseases of the centurythat for it s treatment various methods have been proposed. In this regard, oneof the non-pharmacological methods with a profound effect on drug withdrawalinvolves the participation of addicted individuals in a 12-step anonymousaddiction recovery program. The purpose of this study was to compare thesustained remission from drug addiction among individuals taking part in ananonymous recovery program and those attending a rehabilitation center fordrug withdrawal.Methods: This descriptive study was conducted on 300 participants (150individuals of the anonymous recovery program and 150 patients of therehabilitation center) in Mashhad, Iran, using a random sampling technique. Datacollection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire consisting of two parts,namely demographic information and information related to sustained remissionfrom drug addiction in the attendees of the two groups.Results: The obtained results indicated that there was a significant differencebetween the two groups in term of withdrawal from drug abuse (χ2 = 0.08; P <0.001). Addiction resumption occurred in 40.7, 48.4, and 10.9% of cases in thefirst, second, and third months, respectively. Regarding addiction relapses, 42%and 70% of patients in the rehabilitation and anonymous groups failed toaccomplish the recovery, respectively. Regarding sustained remission fromdrug addiction among the investigated subjects, 40% of the cases in theanonymous addict group and 51.6% of individuals in the rehabilitation cantercould persistently withdraw from drug abuse for more than 6 and 3 months,respectively. Accordingly, there was a significant difference between the twogroups in terms of sustained remission from drug addiction (χ2 = 0.08; P <0.001).Conclusion: On the basis of the obtained results, it can be concluded thatattendance to anonymous addict meetings can be a useful strategy to continuethe addiction withdrawal after the detoxification period.

Keywords:

Continued Withdrawal , Drug Addiction , Meetings of Anonymous Addicts , Addiction Dropout Camps