The Influence of Group Schema Therapy on Adjusting the Early Maladaptive Schemas of Women Dependent on Drugs

Treatment of drug dependence in women, in comparison with men, may be accompanied by more obstacles and problems. The aim of the present research was to determine the impact of group schema therapy on altering the early maladaptive schemas in women dependent on drugs.

The present study employed an experimental methodology along with a pretest-posttest design and a control group. The statistical population of the present study involved all of the women dependent on drugs who referred to the drug addiction treatment centers in Rasht during the two months of November and December 2019, among whom 60 individuals were selected using a randomized cluster sampling (30 test group and 30 control group) and completed a short form questionnaire for maladaptive schemas. The experimental group underwent schema therapy intervention, while there was no regarding the intervention group. The data were analyzed using one-variable covariance analysis and multivariate and SPSS.22 software.

The mean (standard deviation) of the participants in the experimental group was 33.8 (6.6) and the age of the participants in the control group was 34.5 (7.5) years. The study showed that the mean (SD) of disconnection and rejection in the pre-test of the experimental group was 80.5 (25.3) and in the post-test was 67.3 (18.1) (P <0.001). The mean (SD) of self-control and impaired performance of the experimental group decreased from 67.3 (22.9) in the pretest to 57.5 (17.7) in the post-test (P <0.001), mean (SD) of the experimental group's impaired limits from 35.6 (13.1) in the pre-test to 26.9 (9.1) in the post-test (P <0.001), the mean (SD) of over vigilance and inhibition of the experimental group  and inhibition of the experimental group decreased from 62.5 (18.5) in the pretest to 55.3 (17.2) in the post-test (P <0.001). Mean (SD) of the experimental group's other directedness decreased from 54.7 (17.1) in the pretest to 52.1 (16.5) in the post-test, which was not statistically significant (P> 0.05). The mean (SD) of the components of maladaptive schemas in the pretest and posttest groups did not show a significant difference.

The study showed that the schema therapy method reduced the components of early maladaptive schemas including disconnection and rejection, self-control and impaired performance, impaired limits, and over vigilance and inhibition in women dependent drugs, but there was no effect on the reduction of the other-directness component.