Differences Between Expressive Suppression and Cognitive Reappraisal in Opioids and Stimulant Dependent Patients

Background: Substance use and affective disorders frequently co-occur, but the role of affective dysregulation in addiction is often overlooked. There is evidence shows that substance – dependent individuals have more problems in regulating their emotions. Objectives: This study compared two commonly used emotional regulation strategies, cognitive reappraisal and suppression, in opioids and methamphetamine dependents. Materials and Methods: One hundred forty men with substance dependence (70 Opioids, 70 Methamphetamine) were selected by accessible sampling, and they responded to Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (Gross John) and Clinical drug addiction profile (CDAP) questionnaire. SPSS software was used to analyze the results, and descriptive statistics such as frequency tables and inferential statistics including independent t-test were used. Results: Opioids and methamphetamine dependent patients differ in reappraisal strategy (P 0.01). These groups differ not only in reappraisal strategy, but also in the suppression (P 0.001). Conclusion: Opioids and methamphetamine dependent individuals used different strategies for regulating their emotions. The key finding was that opioids dependents prefer suppression, and methamphetamine dependents usually use reappraisal for this purpose.