The Effect of Cognitive-Existential Therapy on Cognitive Distortions in Women with HIV: A Single-Subject Study

Cognitive distortions have an adverse effect on medical conditions of the HIV/AIDS patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the cognitive-existential therapy on reduction of cognitive distortions in women with HIV.
A single-subject study was conducted on three women with HIV who had been referred to the Sabzeh Parvar Therapy Center, Karaj, for the medical treatment during 2014-2015. Each person participated in ten (90-minute) individual sessions of the cognitive-existential therapy. Data were collected using the questionnaire of cognitive distortions (Hasanzadeh and Salar, 2008) for seven times (two times at the baseline phase, three times at the intervention phase, and two times at the follow-up phase). The collected data were analyzed by indicators of process changes, tilt, Cohen's effect size index and review of the ebb and flow of the charts.
The results showed a significant increase on cognitive distortions compared to the baseline and the most amount of increase was observed in the final treatment session. Although the scores decreased in the two follow-up sessions compared to the final session of the therapy, they showed a significant increment compared to the baseline. Increased scores of cognitive distortions showed positive thinking in patients.
Considering the effectiveness of the cognitive-existential therapy on the reduction of cognitive distortions in patients with HIV, this intervention can be used to alleviate the psychological pain in this group.