The Effectiveness of Emotional Schema Therapy on Emotional Schemas of Female Victims of Child Abuse and Neglect

Development of emotional schemas is regarded as one of the long term effects of child abuse and neglect. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the effect of Emotional Schema Therapy on emotional schemas of female victims of child abuse and neglect. In this quasi-experimental design, 30 women, who had the history of child abuse and neglect (according to the scores obtained in the child abuse and neglect questionnaire) and met entry criteria, were selected and then assigned into the experimental and control groups randomly (n=15). The experimental group received a 13-session intervention based on Emotional Schema Therapy and the control group was on a waiting list. The applied instruments consisted of child abuse and neglect questionnaire, Leahy Emotional Schema Scale (LESS) and Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21). Moreover, the study data were analyzed by the analysis of covariance. The study results demonstrated that Emotional Schema Therapy has decreased the emotional schemas of “Guilt” and “Simplistic View of Emotions” and increased “Acceptance of Emotions” in both posttest and follow-up stages. This effectiveness was confirmed via increase of emotional schema of “Consensus” in posttest stage and “Emotional Validation and Comprehensibility” in the follow-up stage. The study findings proposed that Emotional Schema Therapy can be regarded as an effective intervention in order to modify some dimensions of emotional schemas in women with child abuse and neglect history.