Emotional Regulation and Quality of Life among Substance Users

A substance use disorder is a chronic physical & mental health concern caused by obsessive use of substance, regardless of its adverse effects. A key objective of this study was to examine emotional regulation and its relationship to quality of life among substance users. The study used purposive convenient sampling to collected data from 250 participants with substance dependency aged over 18 years from various rehabilitation facilities spread across five cities. Study measure included drug history Performa with a demographic information sheet using Urdu translated versions of scales Emotional Regulation questionnaire (Gross & John, 2003) which comprises Suppression and Reappraisal subscales and WHOQOL-BREF. According to a descriptive analysis of sample characteristics, the majority of participants were from the middle class and had a family history of substance use. The finding of the correlation of cognitive reappraisal showed a positive relationship with quality of life while expressive suppression showed a negative relationship. However, significant gender differences were found concerning emotional regulation & quality of life. Future study planning can benefit from the findings. Further, therapeutic intervention strategies of emotional regulation for substance users must take these studies into account.