Background: Craving is an important factor in predicting relapse in opioid-dependent patients. Objectives: The aim of the present study was to determine which combination therapy, including emotion regulation training followed by tDCS or tDCS followed by emotion regulation training, is more effective in reducing current drug craving and drug-use thoughts and fantasies in opioid-dependent patients in Zahedan, Iran. Patient and Methods: A quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest design and two intervention groups was conducted. From eight randomly-selected centers, asample of 28 patients was selected based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. They were randomly divided into two intervention groups. The first group received eight sessions of tDCS, followed by eight sessions of emotion regulation training. The second group received eight sessions of emotion regulation training followed by eight sessions of tDCS. The statistical population included all opioid-dependent patients at medium-term residential drug rehabilitation centers in Zahedan, Iran, in 2018-2019. The data were gathered using the personal drug use questionnaire, the desires for drug questionnaire (DDQ), and the drug use thoughts, fantasies, and temptations questionnaire. All analyses were performed using SPSS-16. Results: The results of repeated measures ANOVA showed that both sequences had a significant, long-term effect on the reduction of current drug craving and drug-use thoughts and fantasies in opioid-dependent patients. In addition, emotion regulation training followed by tDCS was more effective in reducing current drug craving and drug-use thoughts and fantasies than tDCS followed by emotion regulation training. Conclusions: Combination therapy can significantly reduce drug craving in opioid-dependent patients and starting treatment with emotion regulation training followed by tDCS can lead to better results.

Aims The current study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of psychological interventions (mental-educational) on the quality of sleep among patients with chronic diseases in Iran during 2003-2021. Methods & Materials The current study is a meta-analysis in terms of purpose. The population included all master’s and PhD. dissertations and theses, studies published in scientific journals, and studies published by Iranian authors living abroad. The instrument applied for the analysis of the data was the meta-analysis checklist, and the stages of the meta-analysis were conducted according to the technique proposed by Howitt and Cramer (2005). Findings After investigating 57 studies, 31 studies including 1813 participants were found to meet the entry criteria. The results showed that the total effect size is 0.99. The compound level of significance related to the studies was found to be P<0.0001, which indicated the significance of the total effect sizes obtained in the psychological studies on the quality of sleep among patients with chronic diseases. Conclusion The effect size of the psychological interventions conducted on the quality of sleep among patients with chronic diseases in Iran is high according to Cohen’s table. Hence, implementing this novel therapeutic approach can be considered an effective method in the enhancement of the quality of sleep in patients with chronic physical disease.

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