Aim and Background: The present study aimed to examine the effect of massage on decreasing anxiety and depression in addicted women imprisoned in Isfahan, Iran. Methods and Materials: The present study was a quasi-experimental study. Pre-test and post-test with control group design were used. Subjects were 30 participants who were divided in two experimental (n = 15) and control (n = 15) groups. The experimental group underwent massage therapy for 8 weeks (3 sessions per week) for 30 minutes, while for the control group discussions about daily issues were conducted for only 3 sessions per week. Beck Inventory questionnaires were used for measuring anxiety and depression scores at the beginning and end of intervention period. Data were analyzed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Findings: After controlling for the pretest anxiety and depression scores, massage therapy for 8 weeks significantly reduced anxiety (P < 0.001; Partial ƞ 2 = 0.921) and depression (P < 0.001; Partial ƞ 2 = 0.881) scores of the addicted imprisoned women imprisoned in the experimental group in comparison to the control group. Conclusions: According to the results massage therapy can be used as a non-pharmacologic intervention for decreasing anxiety and depression in the addicted women who were imprisoned.
