Comparing The Effectiveness Of Schema Therapy (ST) and Emotional Schema Therapy (EST) on Clinical Syndromes of Individuals with Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms (OCS)

Due to the prevalence of obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS), and also delayed diagnosis and pharmacological treatment and the possibility of their recurrence after cognitive-behavioral therapies, it is necessary to plan some measures to prevent chronicity and recurrence of obsessive-compulsive disorder. The purpose of the present research was to compare the effectiveness of schema therapy and emotional schema therapy on clinical syndromes of individuals with obsessive-compulsive symptoms.

It was semi-experimental research and included 45 individuals with obsessive-compulsive symptoms who referred to Mehregan counseling center of Mashhad and were divided in schema therapy groups (15 individuals), emotional schema therapy groups (15 individuals), and control group (15 individuals). Intervention groups received 20 individual schema therapy and 15 individual emotional schema therapy for 45 minutes per week, respectively. Data were obtained in four stages by obsessive-compulsive disorder scale of Maudsley, early maladaptive schema questionnaire of Young, and emotional schema scale of Leahy, and also data analysis was carried out by multi-variate variance analysis test.

The results showed that there is a significant difference in the total score of obsessive-compulsive disorder between intervention and control groups (P<0.05). The results of the paired comparison showed that there is no significant difference in total score of obsessive-compulsive between schema therapy group and the emotional schema therapy group (P>0.05).

It seems that both methods of schema therapy and emotional schema therapy may be effective in improving symptoms of individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder.