TI - Substitution Therapy With Methadone And Evaluation of Depression in Drug Users in Hamadan PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE TA - sjimu JN - sjimu VO - 16 VI - 2 IP - 2 4099 - http://sjimu.medilam.ac.ir/article-1-35-en.html 4100 - http://sjimu.medilam.ac.ir/article-1-35-en.pdf SO - sjimu 2 ABĀ  - Abstract Introduction: Depression is considered a prevalent disorder in addicts. Meanwhile, it is one of the main symptoms of opium withdrawal. One of the substitute treatments in opium withdrawal is methadone. Methadone is a synthetic narcotic substance which prevents withdrawal symptoms. There are, at least, two major goals in methadone therapy for opium addicts. A) Access to an oral consumption and reduction of intravenous addiction and related infectious diseases (AIDS, etc). B) Reduction of criminality in societies due to decreased contacts with pushers. The purpose of this study was to evaluate effectiveness of methadone therapy on depression with the intention of properly designed programs on the basis of understanding the issue and measuring the problem's volume to optimize treatment process. Materials & methods: This was pre-post trial study. Maximum sampling error was considered to be 5% and confidence level was 95%. 323 opium addicts referring to methadone clinics of Hamadan were selected and asked by questionnaires. Beck questionnaire consisting of 21 items were given to samples twice (before and after methadone therapy). Data of both Beck tests were statistically analyzed by SPSS 13. Mc-nemar non parametric and wilcoxon tests were used to compare the frequency depression in two stages and intensities, respectively. Findings: of all the 323 opium addicts studied, 261 patients (80.8%) were depressed before methadone therapy (68.6% mild, 26.8% moderate and 4.6% severe). After a month of methadone therapy, The selected patients were studied again. In this stage, 195 patients (60.3%) were depressed (86.7% mild, 12.3% moderate and 1% severe). The difference of depression rate's before and after the treatment was significant (p CP - IRAN IN - LG - eng PB - sjimu PG - 44 PT - Research YR - 2008