Introduction Chronic use of methamphetamine induces neuropsychological deficits and neurochemical changes in frontostriatal regions. This study aimed to examine the relationship between brain metabolites alterations in frontostriatal regions and neuropsychological deficits in patients with methamphetamine use disorder. Method A total of 30 methamphetamine users and 20 control participants were selected and a battery of standardized executive function, attention, and memory tasks, including the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Stroop Test, and Wechsler Memory Scale, was administered to them. Proton-Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H-MRS) of N-Acetylaspartate/Creatine (NAA/Cr), Choline/Creatine (Cho/Cr), and glutamate + glutamine/creatine (Glx/Cr) in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and basal ganglia (BG) were also undertaken. Results Current findings indicated that there were significant differences between two groups in metabolite ratios including NAA/Cr, Cho/Cr, and Glx/Cr in three areas, except for Glx/Cr in BG. Moreover, compared to healthy controls, methamphetamine users showed poorer performance in all neuropsychological tests. Finally, a significant relationship was found between regional metabolites alterations, particularly in the ACC, and neuropsychological deficits in methamphetamine users. Conclusions In addition to neurochemical changes and neuropsychological deficits in patients with methamphetamine use disorder, current results highlighted the relationship between these changes in DLPFC, ACC, and BG with cognitive deficits in methamphetamine users.

Objectives: Difficulty in emotional regulation is an important component in the pathology of different types of addiction and its evaluation can be helpful in understanding and treating these difficulties. The purpose of this study is to evaluate emotional regulation in people with opioid dependence (heroin and opium), food addiction, and internet addiction compared to normal people. Methods: This is a causal- comparative study. Participants were 120 eligible male addicts selected using a purposive sampling method and divided into four groups of 30 including drug addiction, food addiction, internet addiction, and control. Semi-structured clinical interview for DSM-IV axis I disorders, Yale Food Addiction Scale, and Young’s Internet Addiction Test were used to diagnose the addictions. Then the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) was completed. Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was used to analyze the collected data. Results: Overall DERS score and the score of its subscales were higher in all three addiction groups compared to the control group, and this difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). There was no significant difference between the three addiction groups in subscales of “unwillingness to accept certain emotional responses” and “difficulty engaging in goal-directed behavior”, but a significant difference between the three addiction groups was observed in subscales of “difficulty controlling impulse”, “lack of emotional awareness”, “lack of access to strategies”, “lack of emotional clarity”, and overall DERS score (P<0.05). Conclusion: Men with opioid dependence, internet addiction and food addiction have more difficulties in emotional regulation compared to their normal peers. Emotional regulation ability in men with internet addiction is greater than in those with food and opioid addictions.

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Objectives This study examined the variables of impulse control and emotional regulation in patients with food addiction compared to the control group. Methods The study was cross-sectional, and the sample was composed of men. Thirty patients admitted to a clinic for food addiction were part of the research group, and another 30 persons were part of the control group. Semi-structured interviews were used for screening the participants. The Yale Food Addiction Scale was used for diagnosis and research groups, and the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale and Graz Difficulties in Emotional Regulation Scale were used to assess impulse control and emotional regulation, respectively. To evaluate each variable, multivariate analysis of variance was conducted. Results The findings demonstrated that patients had statistically achieved the lowest scores in all aspects of food addiction, impulse control and emotional regulation compared with the control group. Conclusion Patients with food addiction had high impulsivity and lower emotion regulation compared to the control group. Thus, it can be inferred that impaired impulse control and emotional regulation are important factors in the formation and persistence of addictions.

Introduction: Perfectionism is acknowledged as a core vulnerability and a perpetuating factor in several psychopathologies. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness of short-term dynamic/interpersonal group therapy on perfectionism and perfectionism-related distress such as anxiety, depression, and interpersonal problems. Method: This study is a quasi-experimental study applying clinical trial method and contains pre-test, post-test, follow-up periods and control group. The study population included students and the sample consisted of 30 people with extreme perfectionism, who were assigned in two groups of 15 people, experimental and waiting list groups using randomized block design. Research instruments included TMPS, PSPS, PCI, BDI-II, BAI and IIP-32 scales. In order to analyze the collected data, mixed analysis of variance and Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance were used in SPSS software version 22. Findings: The results show that the intervention in the experimental group compared to the waiting list group caused a clinically and statistically significant decrease in the mean scores. This result is observable and evident in all levels of perfectionism and psychological distress (anxiety, depression and interpersonal problems), except for the subscale of non-display of imperfection from the PSPS scale. These results were preserved through the follow-up periods. Discussion: These results show that short-term dynamic/interpersonal group therapy is effective in treating most of the components of perfectionism, and concerning its effectiveness; it reduced psychological distress and showed that the components pertaining to perfectionism are factors of vulnerability in this regard.