Correlation Between Defense Mechanisms and Readiness to Change Among Relapsing Addicts

The number of relapsing addicts is increasingly worrying from year to year. This study was conducted to examine at the relationship between defense mechanisms and the level of readiness to change in relapsing addicts. Although the drug addicts have been treated at the treatment center, however, repeated cases of drug addicts still occur. Six research questions were developed to see how far the variables consisting of defense mechanisms could correlate with readiness to change among addicts who were undergoing treatment. This study was carried out involving 125 addicts in two separate treatment centers in Melaka and Selangor. The selected sample were addicts who have undergone a relapse phase at least once in drug addiction. Statistical data analysis using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences 20 (SPSS-20) were used to analyze the data. Statistical descriptive is used to view the results of demographic data constructed. T-test and ANOVA are used to see the relationship between the variables. The regression analysis is used to predict the defense mechanisms with the stage of readiness to change among relapsing addicts. The results showed that the defense mechanism had a significant relationship to the stage of readiness to change among samples. The results of this study provide information on treatment services in the drug rehabilitation to improve the treatment method appropriately to the drug addicts in preventing relapse.