Impact of Psychological Problems and Marital Adjustment of Iranian Veterans on Their Children's Quality of Life and Happiness

Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Group Therapy on Craving, Emotion Problems, and Marital Satisfaction in Patients with Substance Use Disorders: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Objective: Psychological and environmental factors, such as difficulties in emotion regulation (ER) and marital problems, are involved in relapse and craving in patients with substance use disorders. Emotional regulation therapy can help maintain opioid withdrawal and improve marital relations by focusing on appropriate adjustment of emotions. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of emotion regulation therapy on craving, emotion regulation, and marital satisfaction in patients with substance use disorders. Method : This randomized controlled clinical trial with pretest and posttest was performed in 2014 in Noor hospital, Isfahan, Iran. In this study, 30 patients who were admitted to the addiction center of Noor hospital were selected using purposive sampling. They were assigned into two groups randomly: (1) 15 patients in treatment as usual (TAU group); (2) 15 patients in emotion regulation group therapy (ERGT). The ERGT group received eight weekly treatments, based on Gross model, to learn recognize emotions and their effects, overcome obstacles of positive emotions, accept emotions, identify regulatory maladaptive and adaptive strategies of emotions, and modify behavior. Before and after the emotion regulation sessions in experimental group, Craving Beliefs Questionnaire (CBQ), Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, and Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS) were administered in both groups. Results: The results of analysis of variance indicated that mean scores of marital adjustment increased in ERGT (93.66 ± 15.81) compared to TAU group (55.26 ± 20.98) and the mean scores of craving were decreased in ERGT compared to TAU group (56.66 ± 18.39 and 105.2 ± 34.5, respectively). Also, most aspects of ER improved in ERGT compared to TAU group, and the total score of ER was increased in ERGT significantly (96.69 ± 5.38 in ERGT versus 73.70 ± 5.05 in TAU). Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, emotion regulation group therapy has a significant effect on reducing Craving and improving marital adjustment and emotion regulation in Patients with Substance Use Disorders. So, it can use as a useful psychotherapy in addiction treatment centers.

Mental health among Iranian combat veterans with ankle-foot neuromusculoskeletal injuries

BACKGROUND

Veterans with purely physical disorders, such as ankle-foot neuromusculoskeletal disorders, are often neglected in psychological assessments because mental health evaluations are usually focused on those with a psychological disturbance or with a high percentage of injury. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychological condition of veterans with ankle-foot neuromusculoskeletal disorders.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was performed between 2014 and 2016 on veterans with war-related ankle-foot injuries living in two provinces of Iran. An information form for demographic data and injury-related factors was used. Additionally, the previously validated Persian version of the Symptom Checklist-90-Revision (SCL-90-R) questionnaire was used for data collection.

RESULTS

The respondents were 215 male veterans with a mean age of 51.7 ± 7.5 years. The most common mental health problems were observed for the somatization (24.7%), obsessions-compulsions (14.4%), and anxiety (12.6%). Based on the Global Severity Index (GSI), 48.6% of individuals had a possible psychiatric/psychological illness. According to the multivariate regression analysis, GSI scores were significantly higher among veterans who were older than 27 years at the time of injury (P = 0.005), had an associated injury (P = 0.002), and had a history of hospitalization within the past 12 months for reasons other than their injury (P = 0.035).

CONCLUSIONS

Approximately half of the combat veterans with ankle-foot neuromusculoskeletal disorders likely had psychological problems. The evaluation of the patterns and predicting factors of psychological conditions may inform strategic planning efforts and decision-making, which, in turn, may provide a better quality of life for veterans. Further studies that utilize longitudinal designs are needed to evaluate and compare the psychological status of different groups of veterans and other groups in the general population.