AU - Mousavi, Salem AU - Ehteshamzadeh, Parvin AU - Eftekhar Saadi, Zahra AU - Heydarei, Alireza TI - The Effects of Transcranial Direct-Current Stimulation on Craving and Self-Control in Substance Dependent Individuals PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE TA - MEJDS JN - MEJDS VO - 10 VI - 0 IP - 0 4099 - http://jdisabilstud.org/article-1-1845-en.html 4100 - http://jdisabilstud.org/article-1-1845-en.pdf SO - MEJDS 0 ABĀ  - Background & Objectives: Substance dependence indicates the body's physiological response to the constant use of addictive substances; self-control and craving are essential in the success or failure of treatment in substance-dependent individuals. Craving is among the persistent factors in addictive behaviors. Craving is a tendency that, if not fulfilled, can lead to biopsychological conditions in substance abusers, including aggression, anxiety, depression, and vulnerability. Accordingly, craving seems to be controlled by automatic or non-automatic cognitive-emotional processes. Researchers have suggested different methods to improve cravings and self-control that affect the brain in different manners. One of such approaches is Transcranial Direct-Current Stimulation (tDCS). Few studies have presented the effectiveness of tDCS treatment on self-control and recurrence prevention. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of tDCS treatment on craving and self-control in individuals with substance dependence. Methods: This was an applied and quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest and a control group design. The statistical population of the study consisted of all individuals with substance dependence referring to Golestan Hospital in Ahwaz City, Iran, in 2019 (N=342). The study participants were selected by purposive sampling method. The sample size selection criteria were 0.225, alpha 0.05, and 0.80 in the two groups; the minimum number of samples to achieve the desired power value; 20 per group, and 40 in total. Thus, 80 subjects with substance abuse; those who obtained lower scores than average in the Self-Control Scale (SCS; Tangney et al., 2004) and scores above average in the Desires for Drug Questionnaire (DDQ; Franken et al., 2002) were included in the pretest phase. Individuals aged between 20 and 42 years, with no concomitant drug use for any other disorder, were selected as the study sample. Subsequently, they were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups (n=20/group). The study exclusion criterion included not attending >2 of the therapy sessions. Then, the experimental group received tDCS; however, the controls received no intervention. After the tDCS sessions, the experimental and control groups completed the posttest phase. Additionally, tDCS sessions were performed on the control group after the observation of training sessions data and running posttest on both study groups. The DDQ and SCS were used to collect the required data. The obtained data were analyzed using Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) at a significant level of 0.05 in SPSS. Results: MANCOVA data suggested that the tDCS and control groups were significantly different in at least one of the explored dependent variables (p<0.001, F=23.17). The results of MANCOVA revealed that tDCS treatment was effective in improving craving (p=0.002, F=11.67) and self-control (p=0.004, F=52.13) in the investigated substance dependents. The eta-squares of cravings and self-control were 0.382 and 0.427, respectively, indicating a relatively high effect of tDCS treatment on cravings and self-control in the studied subjects. Conclusion: Based on the present study findings, tDCS treatment was effective in improving craving and self-control in substance abusers; thus, this method could be used to improve the health status of substance abusers. CP - IRAN IN - Department of Psychology, Ahvaz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran LG - eng PB - MEJDS PG - 144 PT - Original Research Article YR - 2020