Abstract Background & Objectives: The novel coronavirus 2019 is a serious threat to human health. It has created physical and life problems for people and caused widespread psychological and physical issues. The most important concerns for most people worldwide are the unpredictability of the situation, the lack of definitive treatment, the uncertainty of the time to control the disease, and the rapid transmission of the disease. Obsessive–compulsive disorder is one of the most common, disabling, challenging, and resistant psychological disorders that increased during the COVID–19 epidemic. One of the treatments whose effectiveness has been confirmed in psychological disorders is short–term psychodynamic therapy. The main focus of short–term psychodynamic therapy is on the emotional problems that make life unbearable for the person. The person's psyche is constantly struggling with this pain and emotional issues, and it creates defenses to avoid pain. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the effectiveness of short–term psychodynamic therapy on early maladaptive schemas and cognitive–emotional regulation in patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder and anxiety about the coronavirus.
Methods: This quasi–experimental study employed a pretest–posttest design with the control and experimental groups. The statistical population of this research included all patients suffering from obsessive–compulsive disorder and anxiety of the coronavirus who were referred to psychological clinics in Tehran City, Iran, in 2021. Among the statistical population, 30 qualified volunteers were randomly entered into the study and assigned to the experimental and control groups (each group includes 15 people). The inclusion criteria include scoring above the average on the Yale–Brown Obsessive–Compulsive Scale and Corona Anxiety Scale, holding at least a diploma level of education, and not participating in other therapeutic interventions simultaneously. The exclusion criteria included the absence of more than three therapy sessions and non–observance of group therapy rules. The pretest and posttest data for the two groups were gathered via the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (Garnefski & Kraaij, 2006) and the Young Schema Questionnaire (Young & Brown, 2005). A short–term psychodynamic treatment program was implemented in the experimental group (in the form of twenty 90–minute sessions once a week), and the control group was not subjected to any treatment program. To maintain the ethical standards in the research, the study treatment programs implemented were also implemented in the control group. Data analysis was carried out in two parts: descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. At the level of descriptive statistics, frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation were calculated. At the level of inferential statistics, independent t test, Chi–square test, and analysis of covariance were performed in SPSS version 24. The significance level of the tests was considered 0.05.
Results: The findings of the analysis of covariance showed significant differences between the experimental and control groups in the posttest, after deleting the effect of the pretest, regarding all the variables of cognitive–emotional regulation and five areas of early maladaptive schemas (p<0.001).
Conclusion: Based on the research findings, short–term psychodynamic therapy is an effective way to increase cognitive–emotional regulation and reduce early maladaptive schemas in patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder and anxiety of the coronavirus.