ego functions

The purpose of this research was to investigate the effectiveness and comparison of accelerated Short -Term Psychodynamic and cognitive behavioral therapy on improving ego functions in patients with generalized anxiety disorder in Tehran.

The current study was a semi-experimental study with a pre-test-post-test and follow-up design with a control group. The statistical population of the study consisted of all men and women aged 25-50 in Tehran who had referred to the psychotherapy clinic due to complaints of anxiety. Among the statistical population, 60 people were selected by purposive sampling, and this number was randomly selected into two experimental groups (40 people) and a control group (20 people). Accelerated short-term dynamic psychotherapy (AEDP) was implemented for 20 people for 4 90-minute sessions and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) was implemented for 20 people for 9 70-minute sessions. In order to collect the research data, Black Ego Function Questionnaire (EFA) was used. The data were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance. The significance level of statistical tests was considered 0/05.

The results obtained from the analysis of variance of repeated measures show the significant effect of short-term dynamic psychotherapy accelerated with cognitive behavioral therapy on the improvement of ego functions in patients with generalized anxiety disorder, in the post-test and follow-up phase in the experimental group. compared to the control group (P≤0.01(. According to the comparative comparison between the two educational approaches, accelerated short-term dynamic psychotherapy has been more effective than cognitive behavioral therapy on differentiation.

According to the results of this research, it can be said that one of the basic approaches in improving ego functions in patients with generalized anxiety disorder is short-term dynamic psychotherapy accelerated with cognitive behavioral therapy.

This study has aimed to investigate the mediating role of the object relations and defense mechanisms in relation between family function and  percived mental health. relations. General health questioner, family assessment device, Bell's object relation inventory and defense style questionnaire were administrated on a sample of 300 students (195 girls and 105 boys). Participants were selected, using multi-stage cluster sampling, from Khayyam University. Data were studied through path analysis method. Results indicated that object relations and mature defense mechanisms of ego played a mediating role in relation between family function and mental health. However, the immature and neurotic mechanisms of ego did not have a mediating role. Being compatible with object relation theory, this research revealed that family functions enhance mental health through affecting object relation and defense mechanisms.