Citation

Ghorbani F, Khosravani V, Mohammadzadeh A, Shadnia S. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2019; 195: 132-139.

Affiliation

Department of Clinical Toxicology, Loghman Hakim Hospital, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: shadniatrc@sbmu.ac.ir.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2018.12.008

PMID

30634108

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Difficulties in emotion regulation (DER) may be important in heroin craving in individuals with heroin dependence who have experienced childhood trauma (CT). However, no research has been performed on DER in the context of heroin dependence. The aim of this study was to evaluate direct and indirect relations of CT to the subscales of heroin craving (i.e., heroin thoughts and interference, intention to use heroin and control of its consumption, and resistance to thoughts and decisions to use heroin) via DER dimensions in individuals with a DSM diagnosis of heroin dependence.

METHODS: In a cross-sectional design, 330 males with heroin dependence completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF), the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), the Obsessive-Compulsive Drug Use Scale-Form Heroin (OCDUS-Form Heroin), and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS).

RESULTS: The results revealed that CT had no direct relations to the subscales of heroin craving, but it indirectly was related to all three subscales of heroin craving via one of the DER dimensions named limited access to emotion regulation strategies (Strategies) after adjusting for demographic and clinical factors.

CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that Strategies may be related to heroin craving in individuals with heroin dependence who have CT. This proposes that treatment and prevention attempts focused on training the use of effective emotion regulation strategies may be useful to reduce heroin craving in individuals with heroin dependence who have experienced a history of CT.

Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Childhood trauma; Difficulties in emotion regulation; Heroin craving; Individuals with heroin dependence