Emotional schema therapy

Persistent depressive disorder is a psychopathological entity with suicidal risk. This study aimed at comparing the effectiveness of emotional schema therapy (EST) and Schema Therapy (ST) on suicidal thoughts in patients with persistent depressive disorder (dysthymia). The present study was a type of quasi-experimental design with pre-test-post-test- multi-group follow-up. The statistical population of the present study consisted of all patients with permanent depression disorder (dysthymia) who were referred to the Shiraz County Psychological Counseling and Psychological Services Centers in 2017-2018. The sample consisted of 60 patients who were selected by a purposive sampling method and randomly assigned to two experimental groups based on emotional schema therapy (n = 20), a schema therapy group (n = 20), and a control group (n = 20). The therapies took eight sessions in 90 minutes, three days a week for three months. Additionally, the control group was provided with treatments as usual and did not receive any interventions. After finishing treatment sessions, the post-test was completed by three groups. In the present study, processing suicidal thoughts, a questionnaire was used. The research data were analyzed using repeated-measures analysis of variance using SPSS.21. The results showed that schema therapy reduced the suicidal thoughts in patients with persistent depressive disorder in the schema therapy group compared with the emotional schema therapy and control groups (p <0.001). Based on the research results, emotional schema therapy and schema therapy can be used as effective methods to reduce suicidal thoughts, but schema therapy was more effective.

Objective:  The aim of the present study was to explore the effectiveness of group emotional schema therapy in reducing feelings of loneliness and rumination of mothers with mentally retarded children.Methods: This quasi-experimental study was a pre-test and post-test design with a control group. The statistical sample included 30 mothers with mentally retarded children who were randomly assigned to two experimental groups (15 people) and a control group (15 people). The experimental group was given emotional schema therapy training for 8 sessions of 2 hours every week. The Social and Emotional Loneliness Scale for Adults and the Ruminative Response Scale were used to collect data. Data were analyzed using the multivariate analysis of the covariance test.Results: The results showed that group emotional schema therapy significantly reduced feelings of loneliness and rumination in the experimental group compared to the control group.Conclusion: The results of this research showed that emotional schema therapy can be an effective way to reduce the feelings of loneliness and rumination of mothers with mentally retarded children.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of Emotional Schema Therapy (EST) in improving relationship quality and conflict resolution styles among betrayed spouses. Methods: This study was conducted as a randomized controlled trial (RCT) with 30 participants from Tehran, Iran, who were recruited through counseling centers and online advertisements. Participants were randomly assigned to either the experimental group (15 participants), which received eight weekly 90-minute EST sessions, or the control group (15 participants), which did not receive any therapeutic intervention during the study period. Data were collected at three time points: pre-test, post-test, and five-month follow-up, using standardized measures of relationship quality and conflict resolution styles. Repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Bonferroni post-hoc tests were used to analyze the data using SPSS version 27. Findings: The results indicated significant improvements in both relationship quality and conflict resolution styles in the experimental group compared to the control group. For relationship quality, repeated measures ANOVA revealed a significant interaction effect between time and group (F(2, 54) = 82.46, p < .001). Similarly, for conflict resolution styles, a significant interaction effect was observed (F(2, 54) = 76.92, p < .001). Bonferroni post-hoc tests showed that these improvements were sustained at the five-month follow-up. Conclusion: Emotional Schema Therapy is an effective intervention for enhancing relationship quality and conflict resolution styles in betrayed spouses. By targeting maladaptive schemas and promoting emotional regulation, EST provides a comprehensive framework for addressing relational challenges following infidelity. These findings support the integration of EST into marital therapy practices.