1- university of mohaghegh ardabili
Abstract: (64 Views)
Background and Objective: Depression is one of the most common mental disorders in the field of health and psychology. The aim of the present study was to compare the effectiveness of emotional schema therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy on the severity of depressive symptoms and experiential avoidance in individuals with major depressive disorder.
Methodology: This research was a semi-experimental study with a pre-test and post-test design with a control group. The statistical population of this study included all patients with major depressive disorder in Zanjan city during the years 1402-1403 (2023-2024). Among them, 45 eligible volunteers with major depressive disorder were selected through convenience sampling and randomly assigned to 2 experimental groups (15 individuals in each group) and one control group (15 individuals). The tools used in this research were the Beck Depression Inventory Form 2 (1996) and the Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire by Gámez et al. (2011). The first experimental group underwent 9 sessions of emotional schema therapy, and the second experimental group underwent 8 sessions of acceptance and commitment therapy, conducted once a week. The control group remained on a waiting list and did not receive any intervention. For data analysis, univariate analysis of covariance, multivariate analysis of covariance, and Bonferroni post hoc tests were used at a significance level of 0.05.
Findings: The results of the analysis of covariance indicated that both therapies were effective in reducing depressive symptoms and experiential avoidance (p < 0.01). However, the results of the post hoc test showed that neither of the therapies had superiority over the other in terms of their impact on depressive symptoms and experiential avoidance, and both were equally effective.
Conclusion: Based on the findings of the present study, it can be stated that both interventions, emotional schema therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy, are effective and beneficial as new interventions focused on not avoiding emotions and feelings, without superiority over each other. They can be utilized as efficient and effective treatments for reducing depressive symptoms and experiential avoidance.