The effectiveness of a drug-attention control training program on reducing detoxified drug abusers’ attentional bias Javad Salehi Fadardi Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Islamic Republic of Iran; Zarrin Barerfan Attentional bias for drug-related stimuli (DA) has been shown to play an important role in the substance abuse. We tested the feasibility of attentional retraining with a Drug Attention Control Training Program (DACTP). Participants were a sample of detoxified drug abusers (N=87), who were randomly divided into a group of controls and a group of trainees, who received three sessions of training with the DACTP. All participants completed Temp-tation Questionnaire, Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Positive Affect and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), Situational Confidence Questionnaire (SCQ), Readiness to Change Questionnaire (RTCQ), and classic and drug-related Stroop tests. Participants’ salivation was recorded while they were exposed to drug and neutral stimuli. All participants were also tested at post-training and one month later (full follow-up). Six months later, a brief, telephone follow-up was also conducted to monitor their temptation, SCQ, RTCQ, PANAS, PSS, and the dose of their medicine and the number of relapses and lapses. Training with the DACTP reduced DA and PASS at post-treatment and the first follow-up; temptation and negative affect were reduced at post-treatment and six-month follow-up; doses of medicine at six-month follow-up; number of relapses at one- and six–month follow-ups. Moreover, the reductions were accompanied by increases in SCQ’s social problem at work and positive social situations which were observed at post-test and the six-month follow-up.

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