مریم علی اکبری

Aim: This study aimed to investigate the role of cognitive emotion regulation strategies and behavioral activator-inhibitor systems in depression. Methods: The research method was descriptive correlational with 240 female undergraduate and graduate students of Shahrekord University (Western province of Iran) selected through a random sampling method. They answered Beck Depression Inventory, Granovsky’s Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, and Carver and White’s Brain Systems Scale. The data were analyzed using SPSS 22.  Results: The mean and standard deviation of each variable were calculated as descriptive statistics, and Pearson correlation was employed to evaluate the relationships of variables. The results showed a significant negative correlation between behavioral activator systems and depression, and a significant positive correlation between behavioral inhibitor systems and depression. In general, the behavioral activator-inhibitor systems predicted 33% of depression variance. In addition, there was a significant positive relationship between maladaptive strategies of cognitive emotion regulation and depression and a significant negative relationship between adaptive strategies of cognitive emotion regulation and depression. Conclusion: The results showed that among the maladaptive strategies of cognitive emotion regulation, the catastrophic component predicted about 29% of depression variance, and among the adaptive strategies of cognitive emotion regulation, the acceptance component predicted about 39% of depression variance. In general, the results of this study indicated that brain-behavioral systems and emotional cognitive regulation strategies had chief roles in predicting depression. Relying on the findings of this study, we can present a practical framework to explain the symptoms of depression and its treatment.

Objective: Spiritual therapy is recognized as an effective treatment for most psychological problems. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of group spiritual therapy on resilience and coping styles of families of addicts who are quitting drugs. Method: The reasech method was quasi-experimental with a pre-test-post-test and a control group design. The statistical population included all families of addicts who were quitting in a camp in Shahrekord city for a period of 3 months in 2020. The statistical sample consisted of 30 families of these addicts who were selected through the purposeful sampling method and randomly assigned into experimental and control groups. The instruments used in this study were the Connor and Davidson Resilience Scale, and the Moss and Billings Coping Styles Questionnaire. Spiritual group therapy was held in 11 sessions of 90 minutes for a month and a half for the experimental group. The collected data were analyzed by covariance analysis using SPSS-21 software. Results: The results showed that group spiritual therapy increased resilience (p≤0.001) and using problem-focused coping style (p≤0.001), and decreased using emotion-focused coping style (p≤0.001) in the family of addicts quitting drugs in the experimental group. Conclusion: The results indicated that spiritual group therapy can explain the high rate of change related to resilience and coping styles of families of addicts seeking treatment.