Comparing the Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy and Recovery-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on Anxiety, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation, and Quality of Life in Patients with Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a chronic psychiatric disorder that accompanies anxiety, difficulties in emotion regulation (DER), and low quality of life. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) and recovery-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (RfCBT) on anxiety, difficulties in emotion regulation, and quality of life in patients with BD.

This study was a quasi-experimental research conducted in the form of pretest-posttest with control group. Forty five volunteer BD patients for participation in this study were included randomly in two experimental groups and one control group. The first experimental group (n=12: females=4, males=8) received the MBCT and the second experimental group (n=12: females=4, males=8) received the RfCBT, and the control group (n=12: females=5, males=7) received no intervention and was placed in the waiting list. Participants completed the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), and the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) in pre-test and post-test. Data were analyzed using covariance analysis by SPSS-22. P0.05).

The findings suggested that both MBCT and RfCBT interventions were effective on reduction of anxiety and DER as well as increasing quality of life.