Abstract
Abstract Given the high rate of relapse among drug abuser, the effectiveness of current substance abuse treatment programs are in doubt. It’s crucial to clarify the cause of relapse and to improve the effectiveness of addiction treatment programs. Existential theory and previous qualitative research have suggested that a lack of life meaning causes drug addiction and relapse,
so it’s essential to raise the meaning in life for Drug Abstainers. And Logotherapy is a meaning-centered approach to psychotherapy , developed by the Austrian neurologist and
psychiatrist Viktor Frankl. However, previous research rarely paid attention to improve the effectiveness of substance abuse treatment programs by enhancing the meaning in life. Especially, no quantitative evaluation of the Logotherapy group counseling has yet been undertaken. So the purpose of this article was to assess the effectiveness of Logotherapy group counseling in alleviating the relapse tendency for drug abstainers.
According to Logotherapy, we can discover meaning in life in three different ways—through “creative values,” “experiential values,” and “attitudinal values”.The creative value
consists of what we give to the world, such as accomplishing a task, creating a work, or doing a good deed. In the present study, we concluded self-valves, sense of achievement and self-efficacy as the creative values sources of meaning. The attitudinal value reflects the stand that we choose to take toward unchangeable situations or unavoidable suffering. So in the present Logotherapy group counseling program, we designed seven themes for enhancing the meaning in life through “creative values,” and “attitudinal values”. They were Understanding the Meaning in Life, Void and Substance Use, Adversity and Grow Up, Create and Valve, Ideal Self and Actual Self, Career and Achievement, Meaning in Life and Dream Commitment.
There were five scales mentioned in the current study: Self-Esteem Scale, General Self-Efficacy Scale, Sense of Personal Accomplishment Sub-scale from Maslach Burnout Inventory, Purpose in Life Test, Re-addiction Tendency Questionnaire. 633 drug abstainers subjects completed the scales. 18 drug abstainers( 9 males and 9 females) with low level of the meaning in life were chosen to be the intervention group according to the result of the PIL on voluntary principle. And another 18 score-matching drug abstainers were chosen to be the control group. After the intervention, we performed an analysis of variance (ANOVA), comparing meaning in life, creative values sources of meaning (self-valves, sense of achievement and self-efficacy) and relapse tendency between the pretest score and the posttest scores of intervention group and controls group.
The results revealed that (1) the posttest score in meaning in life, creative values sources of meaning (self-valves, sense of achievement and self-efficacy) was significantly higher than the pretest for the intervention group. No significant change was found in the control group after treatment (P > .05). (2) The posttest score in relapse tendency was significantly lower than the pretest for the intervention group. No significant change was found in the control group after treatment (P > .05).
These findings suggested that Logotherapy group counseling could effectively alleviate the relapse tendency of drug abstainers by improving meaning in life and creative values sources of meaning(self-valves, sense of achievement and self-efficacy). “Creative values,” and “attitudinal values” were the effective way to enhance the level of meaning in life. So we suggested that addiction treatment programs should add the theme of meaning in life into it as the crucial parts.
Key words
Logotherapy, group counseling, relapse, drug abstinence, meaning in life, sources of meaning
Cite this article
Download Citations
The Effectiveness of Logotherapy Group Counseling in Alleviating the Relapse Tendency of Drug Abstainers[J]. Journal of Psychological Science. 2015, 38(2): 468-473
{{custom_sec.title}}
{{custom_sec.title}}
{{custom_sec.content}}