Comparison of the efficacy of emotion-focused therapy and cognitive-behavior therapy on post-divorce adjustment and self-esteem of divorced women

The bitter and biting views of society and the rejection of divorced women make it difficult for them to adapt to these conditions and damage their self-esteem. Studies have shown that emotion-focused and cognitive-behavioral therapies can affect post-divorce adjustment and self-esteem of divorced women, but research comparing their effectiveness has been neglected.

The aim of this study was to comparison of the effectiveness of emotion-focused therapy and cognitive-behavior therapy on post-divorce adjustment and self-esteem of divorced women.

This study was a quasi-experimental study with pre-test, post-test and two-month follow-up with control group. The research population included all divorced women under the auspices of social service bases in the 2th district of Tehran, Iran. The study sample included 60 women who were selected by available sampling method and, then, were assigned into two experiment groups and one control group (20 individuals per group) through random assignment method. The research tool were Fisher Divorce Adjustment Scale (1976) and Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (1965). For the first experiment group, the emotion-focused therapy (Mirzazadeh et al., 2012), and for the second experiment group, the cognitive-behavior therapy (Muñoz et al., 2012) were delivered in groups and in nine 120-minute sessions, but the control group received no intervention. Data analysis was performed by Repeated Measures ANOVA and Bonferroni post hoc test.

Both treatments improved post-divorce adjustment and self-esteem of divorced women at the end of the intervention stage and in the follow-up stage (p<0.01), but emotion-focused therapy was more effective in improving their adjustment than cognitive-behavioral therapy (p<0.01). There was no difference between these two treatments in increasing the self-esteem of divorced women (p<0.05).

Divorced women who participated in emotion-focused and cognitive-behavioral therapies sessions more experienced post-divorce adjustment and self-esteem