The impact of mindfulness-based relapse prevention on craving, lapse and mindfulness fostering in addicted patients in Methadone Maintenance Treatment

Background: Lapse or relapse is highly prevalent in substance abuse treatment; therefore, prevention programmes are of great importance. Aim: The present study has aimed to investigate the effects of Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention (MBRP) on craving, lapse and mindfulness fostering in addicted patients in Methadone Maintenance Treatment (MMT). Methods: For this purpose, using the Solomon four group design, 55 male addicted patients from three MMT centres were randomly selected and assigned to four groups (two experimental and two control groups). The experimental groups received eight sessions of MBRP besides while the control groups received only methadone. The data were collected by distributing the Heroin Craving Questionnaire (HCQ), the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) and urine tests. Results: The results of the analyses indicated that three out of the five subscales of HCQ, namely: desire to use, intention to use and anticipation of relief from withdrawal or dysphoria were significantly influenced by MBRP, while all the five facets of the mindfulness questionnaire, namely: observing, describing, acting with awareness, non-judging of inner experience and non-reactivity to inner experience were significantly influenced by this prevention programme. Furthermore, the results of the urine tests revealed a lower lapse/relapse percentage in the experimental groups. Conclusions: It can be concluded that MBRP might support longer lasting sustainability of treatment gains for individuals suffering from substance use disorders; clinicians will therefore do well to complement common medical addiction treatments with psychological programmes such as Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention.