Ali Saeedi Rashkolia - Department of Psychology, Zarand Branch, Islamic Azad University, Zarand, Iran
Alireza Manzari Tavakoli - Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Kerman Branch, Islamic Azad University, Kerman, Iran
Zahra Zeinaddiny Meymand - Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Kerman Branch, Islamic Azad University, Kerman, Iran
Seyed Mehdi Hosseini Fard - Department of General Education, Afzalipour Faculty of Medicine, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran

Background: Addiction is a psychiatric disorder with biological, psychological, and social aspects. Literatures indicated that alexithymia, emotional dysregulation, and low psychological capital affect substance abuse. This study investigated the effectiveness of interpersonal psychotherapy on alexithymia, emotional regulation, and psychological capital of male substance abusers.Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted in ۲۰۲۱ in Kerman, Iran using a pretest, post-test design with a control group. A single therapy center was randomly selected via the multi-stage cluster method from several substance abuse treatment centers. ۵۰ people were randomly selected and allocated to experimental and control groups. The research instruments were questionnaires for alexithymia, emotional regulation, and psychological capital. After the pretest phase, the experimental group underwent ۱۲ sessions of interpersonal psychotherapy. In the next step, the post-test was conducted and after ۶ weeks the follow-up test was performed on the groups. The control group did not receive the treatment. Finally, the data obtained from ۴۰ participants were analyzed using the MANCOVA test by SPSS۲۵ statistical software.Findings: Our findings indicated significant MANCOVA results for alexithymia (F=۶۵.۱۴ and P<۰.۰۵), emotion regulation (F=۴۴.۷۲ and P<۰.۰۵) and psychological capital (F=۱۲.۰۵ and P<۰.۰۵) showing a significant difference between the scores of dependent variables in the experimental group and control group.Conclusion: The results showed that interpersonal psychotherapy improves the state of alexithymia, emotional regulation, and psychological capital in substance abusers. It can also be used as an effective intervention in addiction treatment centers.

Addiction, Interpersonal Psychotherapy, alexithymia, emotion regulation, Psychological capital