Comparing the Effects of Trial-Based Cognitive Therapy and Schema Therapy on Early Maladaptive Schemas in Individuals Referring to Psychiatric Centers

Sometimes, improper satisfaction of childhood needs leads to the formation of early maladaptive schemas in them, resulting in the development of psychological problems. Given the adverse effects of early maladaptive schemas in various aspects of personal, social, occupational, and educational life, identifying the psychological interventions affecting these schemas while modifying them can help reduce the negative consequences. One of the most common therapies used in early maladaptive schemas is schematic therapy. Another intervention that can effectively modify early maladaptive schemas is interventions based on cognitive therapies. One type of intervention based on a cognitive approach that is less discussed in Iran is trial–based cognitive therapy. Therefore, by reviewing different research backgrounds and since schema therapy is a common intervention in this field, this study aimed to introduce a trial–based cognitive approach and compare its effectiveness with schema therapy on modulating early maladaptive schemas.

This was a quasi–experimental study with pretest–posttest and a control group design. The statistical population included all individuals referring to the Psychiatric Center of Qom City, Iran, in 2019 to investigate and address their psychological problems. Of them, 30 qualified volunteers entered the study and were randomly assigned to the study groups (schema therapy, cognitive therapy, & control groups; n=10/group). The inclusion criteria of this research had the desire to participate in the research, being a resident of Qom, not having specific physical illness problems, and having literacy to write and complete the research questionnaire. The exclusion criteria were reluctance to participate in further research, relocation from Qom during the research, absence from the interventional sessions, and illiteracy. The instrument used in this study in the pretest and posttest stages was the Yang Early maladaptive Schema Questionnaire–Short Form (Young & Brown, 1998). Young schema therapy protocol was performed in eight 45–minute sessions, and trial–based cognitive therapy protocol was performed in 8 sixty–minute sessions in the experimental groups; however, no intervention was provided to the control group. To analyze the obtained data, descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation) and inferential statistics, including univariate analysis of covariance and Bonferroni post hoc test, were used at a significant level of 0.05 in SPSS.

The collected results suggested that trial–based cognitive therapy and schema therapy significantly modulated early maladaptive schemas of the studied individuals (p<0.001). The effect of these interventions on the modulation of early maladaptive schemas was measured as 29.6%. There was no significant difference between the effectiveness of trial–based cognitive therapy and schema therapy in modulating the initial maladaptive schema (p=0.670). However, these two groups were significantly different from the control group (p<0.001).

According to the results of this study, trial–based cognitive therapy and schema therapy are equally effective in modulating early maladaptive schemas.