The effectiveness of group therapy based on emotional schema therapy on decrease of anxiety sensitivity in woman with social anxiety disorder

Social anxiety disorder is the most prevalent anxiety disorder. The psychological therapy has focused on treating an aspect of damaged underlying factors in anxiety. The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of group therapy based on emotional schema therapy on the decrease of anxiety sensitivity in women with social anxiety disorder. This study was the quasi-experimental type with pretest - posttest and control group. The study population consisted of all women with social anxiety disorder and have 18 to 35 years old who referred to the psychological clinic of the Ferdowsi university of Mashhad. According to the sample size in the previous research, 24 people were selected through convenience sampling method and were selected according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. Then divided randomly into experimental and control groups. Clinical Structured Garfield and Marcus’s anxiety sensitivity questionnaire were used in this study. Emotional schema group therapy was performed in 10 sessions once a week. The questionnaire was completed in the post-test. Findings showed that Emotional schema group therapy reduced the anxiety sensitivity of the patients with social anxiety in the experimental group compared to the control group. (F=346/86, p<0/001., Mean of experimental group= 35/41) The use of emotional schema therapy can be effective in reducing the anxiety sensitivity of women with social anxiety disorder.