comparative study of the effectiveness of matrix training and tdcs treatments on positive and negative affects and craving in substance abusers

Background and objective: substance dependence is acknowledged as one of the major socialand health issues inflicting severe and profound physical and psychological harm, as well asnumerous social damages, such as divorce and unemployment. the present study aimed to make acomparison between the effectiveness of matrix training and transcranial direct current stimulation(tdcs) treatments on positive and negative affects and craving in substance abusers who referred toahwaz addiction treatment centers within 201 8-201 9.materials and methods: the present semi-experimental study was conducted using a pre-test posttestcontrol group design with a two-month follow-up. the study population consisted of allsubstance abusers who referred to ahwaz addiction treatment centers within 2018-2019. a total of60 volunteers were selected by voluntary sampling method and randomly assigned to matrix training(n=20), tdcs (n=20), and control (n=20) groups. data were collected by the positive and negativeaffect schedule (panas) and desire for drug questionnaire and were analyzed in spss software (version 22).results: based on the obtained results, matrix, tdcs, and control groups were significantly differentin terms of positive and negative affects and craving (p<0.001). moreover, it was found that matrixtraining and tdcs were effective on positive and negative affects and cravings (p<0.001);nonetheless, no significant difference was observed between the matrix and tdcs groups (p>0.05).conclusion: generally speaking, it can be concluded that matrix training and tdcs methods areequally effective in emotions and craving.