A Comparison of Behavioral Activation/Inhibition Systems and Mindfulness in Addicts and Non-addicted Males

Abstract

The main objective of this causal-comparative research was to compare behavioral activation and inhibition systems and mindfulness in addicts and non-addicted men of Maragheh, Iran. In order to do this, 35 addicted males and 35 non-addicted men were chosen using purposeful sampling method and via matching the two groups. The participants answered the 120-item test of activation/inhibition systems (Gray-Wilson Personality Questionnaire or GWPQ) and the 39-item test of mindfulness (Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills or KIMS). Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and SPSS software. The findings showed that the compared groups in activation/inhibition systems and mindfulness had meaningful differences. The average scores of mindfulness in healthy people were higher than those of the addicted people. While the average scores of behavioral inhibition system in healthy people were higher than addicts, the average scores of behavioral activation system in addicts were higher than non-addicted people. In general, since this study showed that activity level of activation system in addicted people is more than non-addicts, activity level of inhibition system in non-addicts is more than addicted people, and that mindfulness skill in addicts is lower than non-addicts there is the necessity to design therapeutic and rehabilitative interventions.