Mahmoud Najafi’s research while affiliated with Semnan University and other places

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Publications (31)


Figure 3 -Effect of NFB training and swimming exercise on anxiety in METHdependent patients. There is no significant difference between groups in the pretest anxiety score. The NFB/Swim group experienced less anxiety than the Cont group for posttest. * p = .008 versus Cont. ^ p = .002 versus NFB. Cont = control; NFB = neurofeedback; METH = methamphetamine.
Figure 4 -Effect of NFB training and swimming exercise on the depression in METHdependent patients. There is no significant difference between the four groups in the pretest depression score. Swim and NFB/Swim groups experienced less depression than the Cont group for posttest. ^ p = .006, * p = .008, *** p = .0001 versus Cont. Cont = control; NFB = neurofeedback; METH = methamphetamine.
Effect of Neurofeedback Training Along With Swimming Exercise on the Stress, Anxiety, Depression, Severity of Dependence, and Craving in Methamphetamine-Dependent Patients
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  • Full-text available

December 2024

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45 Reads

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1 Citation

Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology

Atefeh Fadaei

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Mahmoud Najafi

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[...]

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Mohammad Afkar

This study investigated whether neurofeedback (NFB) training and swimming exercise (Swim) would reduce the stress, anxiety, depression, severity of dependence, and cravings in patients addicted to methamphetamines. Participants were allocated randomly to four groups: control group, NFB, Swim, and NFB/Swim. All groups completed the study questionnaire before and after treatment. The NFB, Swim, and NFB/Swim groups reported significantly less stress, cravings, and severity of dependence than the control group. The Swim and NFB/Swim groups had significantly lower depression scores than the control group. Also, the NFB/Swim group experienced less anxiety than the control group. However, the NFB/Swim group had lower levels of stress than the Swim group, and lower levels of anxiety and severity of dependence than the NFB group. These findings suggest that NFB training along with swimming exercise was effective in managing methamphetamine-related behavioral disturbances, which may help patients to manage their cravings.

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The Independent Contribution of Positive and Negative Metacognitions About Smoking to Urge to Smoke, Withdrawal Symptoms and Dependence in Smoking-Dependent Men

July 2024

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21 Reads

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1 Citation

Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy

Previous research has indicated that various factors, such as psychological distress, distress intolerance, anhedonia, impulsivity and smoking metacognitions, have been individually linked to the urge to smoke, withdrawal symptoms and dependence. However, these factors have not been collectively examined to determine whether smoking metacognitions independently and significantly contribute to these outcomes. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the impact of distress intolerance, anhedonia, impulsivity and smoking metacognitions on the urge to smoke, withdrawal symptoms and dependency in men who are dependent on smoking. A total of 300 smoking-dependent men completed psychological scales and smoking-related measures. The findings of the study indicated that positive metacognitions about emotion regulation significantly predicted the urge to smoke, even when accounting for other significant predictors such as the number of daily cigarettes smoked, psychological distress, anhedonia and impulsivity. Furthermore, positive metacognitions about cognitive regulation were found to be a significant predictor of withdrawal symptoms, independent of other significant predictors such as psychological distress and the urge to smoke. Smoking dependence was predicted by negative metacognitions about uncontrollability beyond other significant predictors, including the number of daily cigarettes smoked and distress intolerance. These results highlight the role of metacognitions about smoking in both short- and long-term clinical outcomes related to smoking. Consequently, addressing such beliefs during treatment for smoking dependence should be an important therapeutic goal.



Effect of Neurofeedback Training Along with Swimming Exercise on the Electroencephalographic Changes and Visual Image-Induced Craving in Methamphetamine-Dependent Patients

August 2023

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28 Reads

Basic and Clinical Neuroscience Journal

Introduction: In this study, we investigated whether neurofeedback (NFB) training and swimming exercise would decrease the electroencephalographic (EEG) changes and visual image-induced craving in methamphetamine (METH)-dependent patients. Methods: This study was a randomized controlled trial design. 32 METH-dependent patients were allocated randomly to four groups; control, NFB, Swim, and NFB/Swim. The EEG and visual image-induced craving were recorded before and after the intervention in all four groups. Results: We found that the NFB, Swim, and NFB/Swim groups showed significantly lower absolute power for 4 frequency bands. Also, the swim and NFB/Swim groups had less and greater relative power in the alpha and delta bands, respectively. In addition, NFB/Swim group exhibited an increase in delta/alpha power ratio than the control and the NFB groups. Also, the NFB/Swim group showed a significant reduction in visual image-induced craving score than the control, swim, and NFB groups. Conclusion: This study provides novel evidence that the NFB training along with swimming exercise during METH-abstinence was effective in the normalization of METH-induced EEG changes, which may help patients to manage their cravings.


Childhood emotional maltreatment, maladaptive coping, and obsessive‐compulsive symptoms in patients with obsessive‐compulsive disorder

January 2023

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108 Reads

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6 Citations

Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy

Previous studies have reported childhood emotional maltreatment (CEM) to be associated with specific obsessive‐compulsive (OC) symptoms, but maladaptive coping, which may be the underlying mechanism in this relationship, has not been evaluated yet. Thus, the present study aimed to examine the effects of CEM on the OC symptoms of responsibility for harm and unacceptable thoughts, as well as OCD severity, through maladaptive coping, including cognitive avoidance, experiential avoidance, and emotional suppression in OCD patients (n=360). The results showed that CEM had direct effects, as well as indirect effects via cognitive and experiential avoidance and emotional suppression, on responsibility for harm and unacceptable thoughts. In addition, the indirect effect of CEM on OCD severity was significantly mediated by the roles of cognitive avoidance and experiential avoidance. The present study adds new literature to evidence indicating the role of early childhood events in developing and maintaining OCD in which adverse maladaptive coping related to unpleasant childhood abuse plays an important role in OCD. More precisely, OCD patients who experience a history of CEM may further use maladaptive coping to cope with their distress and subsequently experience responsibility for harm, unacceptable thoughts, and severe OCD.


Comparison of cognitive strategies for emotion regulation, impulsivity and suicidal ideation in people with obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar people disorder and normal people

November 2022

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11 Reads

journal of counseling research

Aim: The aim was to compare cognitive strategies for emotion regulation, impulsivity, and suicidal ideation in patients with obsessive-compulsive, bipolar disorder and normal individuals. Methods: This was a causal-comparative study. The statistical population included people who were diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder and bipolar disorder in city of Semnan, Iran in the year 1400. According to the opinion of a psychiatrist, as well as normal people who were not diagnosed with a disorder based on self-report and using a checklist of symptoms of mental disorders. Fifty obsessive-compulsive patients and 50 bipolar patients, as well as 50 normal individuals were selected through available sampling. Granfsky Emotion Cognitive Regulation Questionnaire, Barthes Impulsivity, and Beck Suicidal Thought were administered. Multivariate analysis of variance was used to analyze the data. Findings: Cognitive regulation of emotion, impulsivity and suicidal ideation are significantly different in the three groups. The mean scores of the patient group were higher than the normal group in the negative components of emotion regulation, impulsivity and suicidal ideation (p<0.05). In the positive of emotion regulation, the mean scores of the bipolar group were higher than the obsession (p<0.05). In negative regulating emotion, the mean scores of obsessive-compulsive patients were higher than those of bipolar disorder (p<0.05). Also, the mean scores of obsessive-compulsive group was higher than bipolar in cognitive impulsivity (p<0.05 ); but there was no difference between the obsessive-compulsive and bipolar groups in motor components and lack of planning (p>0.05). Conclusion: Holding educational workshops to minimize the damage caused by failure in emotion regulation, impulsivity, and suicidal thoughts in obsessive-compulsive and bipolar disorder sufferers, designing support programs such as training impulse management skills, using adaptive emotion regulation strategies, planning skills and decision-making in the general population as well as obsessive-compulsive and bipolar patients, as well as the appropriate treatment plan to prevent the exacerbation or recurrence of patients' symptoms can be effective.


Associate Professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Psychology & Educational Sciences

August 2022

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43 Reads

The article is taken from a doctoral dissertation. Aims: The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of child-centered play therapy and (CPRT) on the affective styles in children suffering from separation anxiety disorder. Method: The research method was semi-experimental with pre-test and post-test and control groups. The statistical population of this study consisted of all female students with separation anxiety in the fifth and sixth grades of primary schools in city of Babol, of whom 45 of these students were selected via random sampling, and were randomly divided into three groups: experimental group-1, experimental group-2 and control group. The first experimental group received child-centered play therapy with Axline approach in sixteen 45-minute sessions, and the second experimental group were taught (CPRT) ten 2-hour sessions. The research instruments were questionnaire (form d) of the children Symptoms Inventory (Sprafkin, Lani & Gadow, 1994) and the Affective Style Questionnaire (Hofmann & Kashdan, 2010). Covariance was used to analyze the data. Findings: The results showed that both interventions play an effective role in improving the affective styles in children with separation anxiety disorder. Moreover, there was a significant difference between the effectiveness of (CPRT) and child-centered play therapy and the (CPRT) was more effective in improving the affective styles there (p< 0/05). Conclusions: CPRT training can be considered as a more suitable alternative in improving the affective styles as well as in improving the psycho-cognitive symptoms of children with separation anxiety disorder.


The direct relation of CM to obsessive-compulsive symptoms and general OCD severity (Standardized coefficients). Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), childhood maltreatment (CM), Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF), Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), Dimensional Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (DOCS). * p<0.001
The effects from CM on obsessive-compulsive symptoms and general OCD severity through the mediating role of behavioral inhibition system (BIS) by controlling for depressive symptoms (Standardized coefficients). Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), childhood maltreatment (CM), Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF), Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), the Dimensional Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (DOCS). * p<0.05. ** p<0.001
Childhood adversity affects symptomatology via behavioral inhibition in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder

January 2022

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123 Reads

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5 Citations

Current Psychology

Although childhood maltreatment (CM) is one of the important factors in the psychopathology of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), it may affect OCD along with other potential factors such as behavioral inhibition. Thus, the current research was conducted to determine the direct effect of CM on obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms and its indirect effect through behavioral inhibition in patients clinically diagnosed with OCD. Patients with OCD (n= 360, females=67.8%, mean age=35.72 years, age range=20-58 years) were randomly selected and they completed the scales assessing childhood adversity, OC symptom dimensions, behavioral inhibition system (BIS), depressive symptoms, and general OCD severity. Results showed the direct and indirect effects (through BIS) of CM on OC symptoms after controlling for the severity of depressive symptoms. In addition, the indirect effect of CM on OCD severity was affected by BIS. The study shows the role of BIS concerning OCD symptoms and general severity in patients diagnosed with OCD exposed to CM. In other words, BIS may link unpleasant childhood experiences to OCD symptomology and its severity regardless of the effects of the severity of depressive symptoms in individuals with a clinical diagnosis of OCD.


Comparing of the Effectiveness of Child-Centered Play Therapy and Child-Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT) on the Affective Style in Children with Separation Anxiety Disorder

October 2021

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94 Reads

journal of counseling research

Aims: The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of child-centered play therapy and (CPRT) on the affective styles in children suffering from separation anxiety disorder. Method: The research method was semi-experimental with pre-test and post-test and control groups. The statistical population of this study consisted of all female students with separation anxiety in the fifth and sixth grades of primary schools in city of Babol, of whom 45 of these students were selected via random sampling, and were randomly divided into three groups: experimental group-1, experimental group-2 and control group. The first experimental group received child-centered play therapy with Axline approach in sixteen 45-minute sessions, and the second experimental group were taught (CPRT) ten 2-hour sessions. The research instruments were questionnaire (form d) of the children Symptoms Inventory (Sprafkin, Lani & Gadow, 1994) and the Affective Style Questionnaire (Hofmann & Kashdan, 2010) . Covariance was used to analyze the data. Findings: The results showed that both interventions play an effective role in improving the affective styles in children with separation anxiety disorder. Moreover, there was a significant difference between the effectiveness of (CPRT) and child-centered play therapy and the (CPRT) was more effective in improving the affective styles there (p< 0/05). Conclusions: CPRT training can be considered as a more suitable alternative in improving the affective styles as well as in improving the psycho-cognitive symptoms of children with separation anxiety disorder.


The effects of emotion dysregulation and negative affect on urge to smoke and nicotine dependence: The different roles of metacognitions about smoking

September 2021

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41 Reads

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18 Citations

Addictive Behaviors

Evidence has shown that smoking is a self-regulatory strategy to relieve negative affect and that metacognitions about smoking may play a role in addictive behaviors. Therefore, the present research was designed to examine the direct and indirect roles of emotion dysregulation and negative affect in predicting urge to smoke and nicotine dependence via metacognitions about smoking. In a cross-sectional study, 450 nicotine-dependent men completed measures of urge to smoke, nicotine dependence, metacognitions about smoking, negative affect, and emotion dysregulation. The results showed that both emotion dysregulation and negative affect had indirect effects on urge to smoke via positive metacognitions about smoking as well as on nicotine dependence via negative metacognitions about smoking. The findings suggest that metacognitions about smoking have different roles in different patterns of nicotine use so that positive and negative metacognitions have important roles respectively in urge to smoke and nicotine dependence in smokers with high emotion dysregulation and negative affect. This study also adds to the literature on the metacognitive theoretical framework of addictive behaviors supporting the use of Metacognitive Therapy interventions in smoking cessation.


Citations (23)


... Specifically, their review showed that heart rate variability BFB can influence chronic stress response stages (alarm, resistance, and exhaustion) and help to acutely regulate motor-cognitive arousal. Fadaei et al. (2024) showed that NFB training (3 days per week over a 10week period) coupled with swimming exercise was effective in ameliorating stress, anxiety, depression, and the severity of dependence among methamphetamine addicts. Given that substance abuse is a common issue faced by people in sport and other settings (Murray et al., 2024), the findings by Fadaei et al. (2024) are important and should stimulate future research. ...

Reference:

Sport and Exercise Psychophysiology: From Theory to Practice
Effect of Neurofeedback Training Along With Swimming Exercise on the Stress, Anxiety, Depression, Severity of Dependence, and Craving in Methamphetamine-Dependent Patients

Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology

... It is suggested that depression may stem from the severity of OCD and its associated symptoms, including repugnant obsessions (Hellberg et al., 2022;Storch et al., 2009). However, it is important to acknowledge that factors beyond the specific features of OCD, such as childhood maltreatment (CM), likely contribute to OCD symptoms (Khosravani et al., 2017b;Wang et al., 2020) and depression in individuals with OCD (Briggs & Price, 2009;Darroudi et al., 2023;Ou et al., 2021). CM refers to various forms of abusive and neglectful behaviors, including emotional, physical, and sexual abuse and neglect, which individuals may experience during their early lives. ...

Pathways to suicidal risk in patients with OCD: The role of childhood abuse, cognitive vulnerabilities, OCD symptomology, and depression
  • Citing Article
  • December 2023

Journal of Family Trauma Child Custody & Child Development

... Previous research detected certain cognitive and psychopathological factors that may contribute to mediate this relationship, including experiential avoidance, mindfulness abilities (Kroska et al., 2018), maladaptive coping (Kadivari et al., 2023), rumination, emotion regulation difficulties, posttraumatic stress symptoms (Boger et al., 2020b), and dissociation (Boger et al., 2020b;Santoro et al., 2023). ...

Childhood emotional maltreatment, maladaptive coping, and obsessive‐compulsive symptoms in patients with obsessive‐compulsive disorder
  • Citing Article
  • January 2023

Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy

... The proposition of a repeated traumarelated disorder, as articulated by Herman, underscores the potentially profound impact of OCD overall, implying that various traumatic experiences contribute to the severity of symptoms. Studies also reveal that exposure to childhood trauma is linked to increased symptoms across specific domains of OCD, including contamination, responsibility for harm, unacceptable thoughts, symmetry, aggression, sexual and religious obsessions, as well as ritualistic compulsions [38]. These individual differences and the overarching impact of childhood trauma on OCD severity underscore the importance of examining different subtypes of childhood trauma and OCD symptoms rather than solely focusing on total scores. ...

Childhood adversity affects symptomatology via behavioral inhibition in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder

Current Psychology

... People living in counties with lower levels of social isolation and residential stability have a higher risk of substance dependence(38). The rat model found that depression and anxiety increased during MMT, and a rich living environment could reduce the occurrence of MMT depression and anxiety (39). Positive life experiences and anti-stress effects may prevent the release of drug addiction from developing (40). ...

Environmental Enrichment Ameliorates Psychological Dependence Symptoms and Voluntary Morphine Consumption in Morphine Withdrawn Rats Under Methadone Maintenance Treatment

Basic and Clinical Neuroscience Journal

... That is, an individual may use substances both for the pleasure or relaxation that substances (e.g., alcohol or nicotine) provide, and to alleviate symptoms of nicotine withdrawal, such as anxiety and low mood. Thus, when a stressful event triggers depression, smoking becomes a possible means for them to alleviate withdrawal symptoms or enjoy pleasure (Poormahdy et al., 2022). ...

The effects of emotion dysregulation and negative affect on urge to smoke and nicotine dependence: The different roles of metacognitions about smoking
  • Citing Article
  • September 2021

Addictive Behaviors

... These factors play a crucial role in emotional regulation, which indirectly affects sleep quality 7 . Furthermore, possessing high levels of psychological resilience could assist medical professionals in confronting occupational stressors and setbacks in a positive manner, effectively coping with adversity, reducing the negative impact of work-related high-stress events, and thus promoting the development of physical and mental health 55,56 . Therefore, psychological resilience may improve the quality of sleep among medical professionals by positively impacting their physical and mental health. ...

The effect of transcranial direct current stimulation on sleep quality, resilience, and optimism

Current Psychology

... In addition to the direct effect of childhood maltreatment on suicidal ideation, we also verified the indirect association between childhood maltreatment and suicidal ideation through maladaptive CERSs, consistent with Hypothesis 2. Specifically, maltreated adolescents have a poorer understanding of negative emotional experiences and are more habituated to using maladaptive CERSs to cope with stressful events Weissman et al., 2019), consequently leading to extreme thoughts (e.g., suicidal ideation; Rajabi Khamesi et al., 2021). Meanwhile, this finding indicated the reliability of the Tripartite Model (Morris et al., 2007) in the Chinese cultural context, further validating its cross-cultural applicability and suggesting that some basic cognitive emotion regulation mechanisms may prevail in different cultural contexts. ...

The effect of childhood maltreatment on suicidal ideation through cognitive emotion regulation strategies and specific obsessive‐compulsive symptoms in obsessive‐compulsive disorder
  • Citing Article
  • March 2021

Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy

... Thus, the first hypothesis, proposing a positive link between insecure attachment and nicotine dependence was rejected. Similar to past studies, both positive and negative metacognitions about smoking significantly mediated the relationships between insecure attachment and nicotine dependence [26,51,54], . In addition, the significant indirect effects were positive, thus confirming, at least partially, the second hypothesis. ...

Anxiety in social interactions and nicotine dependence in nicotine-dependent men: The role of metacognitions about smoking
  • Citing Article
  • September 2020

Addictive Behaviors

... Regarding religious beliefs, believing in God has been considered a protective factor in young people's mental health (Pastwa-Wojciechowska et al., 2021;Sarizadeh et al., 2020); this can provide a sense of purpose and emotional support, which can benefit mental health and resilience in the face of stress (Bouwhuis-Van Keulen et al., 2024;Bridi et al., 2023;Zubair et al., 2023). ...

The prediction of depression based on religious coping and the components of positive youth development in adolescents
  • Citing Article
  • July 2020

Mental Health Religion & Culture