Comparison of the Impact of Self-Compassion-Focused Therapy and Metacognitive Therapy on Depression Symptoms and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation in Depressed Armed Forces Personnel

Depression is one of the most common types of mental disorders that makes people refer to psychiatrists, psychologists and other mental health professionals. The aim of this study was to compare the impact of self-compassion-focused therapy and metacognitive therapy on reducing depression symptoms and difficulties in regulating emotions in the armed forces personnel suffering from depression. < p >

In a quasi-experimental design with pre-test and post-test and a control group, 45 armed forces personnel referring to the psychiatric wards of Imam Hossein Hospital and Boali Hospital in Tehran were purposively selected and randomly assigned to two experimental groups and a control group. The first experimental group (n = 15) received group meta-cognitive therapy and the second experimental group (n = 15) received group self-compassion therapy. Participants completed a depression questionnaire and a difficulty in emotion regulation questionnaire in pre-test, post-test and one-month follow-up stages, and the data were analyzed using a multivariate repeated measures model. < p >

The results showed that there was a significant difference in the rates of depression and difficulty in emotion regulation in the three groups, and the comparison of means indicated that the self-compassion-focused therapy was more effective than the metacognitive therapy. 

The results of this study revealed that self-compassion-focused therapy can improve emotional disorders and emotion regulation in the armed forces personnel suffering from depression, and it can be a selective method for improving depression and emotion regulation in these individuals.