The Effectiveness of Online Dialectical Behavior Therapy on the Emotion Regulation Difficulties, Guilt Feeling and Dissociative Symptoms in Depressed People

This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of online dialectical behavior therapy on the emotion regulation difficulties, guilt feeling, and dissociative symptoms in depressed people.

The research method was quasi-experimental with a pre-test-post-test-follow-up design with the control group. The statistical population of this study included all people with major depression who were referred to Garmsar health centers in the spring of 2021, among them, 30 people were selected by two random stages sampling method and by homogenizing age, marriage, and education were randomly divided into experimental and control groups, two groups. Participants for pre-test, post-test, and follow-up to the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (Gratz & Roemer, 2004) (DERS); Guilt Inventory (Kugler & Jones, 1992) (GI), and Dissociative Experiences Scale (Bernstein & Putnam, 1986) (DES). After 8 sessions of dialectical behavior therapy for the experimental group, the research data were analyzed using repeated-measures analysis of variance.

The results showed that dialectical behavior therapy was effective on the emotion regulation difficulties, guilt feeling, and dissociative symptoms in depressed people (P<0.01), and its effect lasted over time (P<0.01).

Based on the results, the use of dialectical behavior therapy in the treatment of major depression and its manifestations, including emotion regulation difficulty, guilt, and dissociative symptoms in counseling and psychotherapy centers can be effective.