Research in Medicine

Aims: Due to the concerns over relapse in schemes for quitting drugs and the role of psychological health aspects in relapse, this research examined the relationship between well-being as a component of positive psychological health with substance abuse relapse.

Method of Investigation: In this cross sectional study, 68 addicts residing in one of the addiction quitting centers in Tehran in 2016 were selected for investigation by simple random sampling. A questionnaire consisting of the addict's demographical data, his addiction status and the Farsi version of the World Health Organization Well-Being Questionnaire (WHO-5-P) were employed for data collection. A Pearson Correlation Test was used to investigate the relationship between well-being and its components with substance abuse relapse.

Findings: The mean number of relapses in the group with the low well-being index (less than 13) was 4.89±10.92 occurrences whilst in the group with the high well-being index (13 or more) it was 2.71±5.30. Analysis of data indicated that there was a significant inverse relationship between the level of the well-being index with the number of relapses (P<0.05). The same relationship was also present between the "Vitality" and "Waking up Fresh" components of the well-being index with the number of relapses.

Discussion and Conclusions: A low level of well-being is associated with more relapses and thus consideration of factors interrelated to positive psychological health such as well-being, easy access to counseling centers and provision of appropriate care could play a substantial role in reducing relapse rate.