Effectiveness of Schema Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Components of Cognitive Emotion Regulation among Patients with Anxiety Disorder

Health anxiety is a broad cognitive disorder that is formed as a misconception about the symptoms and physical changes resulting from a personchr('39')s beliefs about illness or health.

This study aimed to compare the efficacy of schema therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) in cognitive emotion regulation components in patients with an anxiety disorder.

This quasi-experimental study was carried out with a three-group pretest-posttest design. The study population included individuals referring to Bavar and Bamdad counseling centers located in Sari, Iran, in 2019. A sample size of 45 participants was selected using nonrandom sampling (i.e., targeted and voluntary sampling). The measurement tool used was Emotional Cognitive Regulation Questionnaire (Garnefsky and Craig; 2006). Multivariate analysis of covariance and univariate analysis of covariance was used to analyze the data by SPSS software (version 22).

The obtained results of the present study showed that schema therapy and ACT were effective in cognitive emotion regulation in patients with an anxiety disorder (P<0.001). The ACT was more effective than schema therapy in the reduction of blaming others (P<0.0001) and focus on catastrophe (P<0.010) and increase of positive refocus (P<0.012). There was no significant difference in other emotional regulation components between the groups (P>0.05).

Considering the role of beliefs and thoughts in the anxiety disorder, it is suggested that therapists consider schema therapy and ACT in psychological interventions, including cognitive emotion regulation, for this group of patients.