Comparison of the efficacy of positive psychotherapy and schema therapy on cognitive flexibility and physical self-esteem in women seeking cosmetic surgery

Psychological factors play a major role in people's desire for cosmetic surgery and its repetition. Based on this, psychological treatments such as schema therapy and positive therapies can be effective in improving these cognitive, psychological and behavioral roots. A review of the research literature indicates the necessity of conducting studies that compare the two mentioned treatments.

The present study aimed to the comparison of the efficacy of positivist psychotherapy and schema therapy on cognitive flexibility and physical self-esteem is performed in women seeking cosmetic surgery.

The present research is quasi-experimental with a Pretest-Posttest design which was performed with a control group. The statistical population was included all women applying for cosmetic surgery who referred to hospitals and clinics of cosmetic surgery in Borujerd in 2020. Among themes, 45 people were randomly selected and assigned to two experimental groups and a control group. Positive psychotherapy was conducted in 14 sessions of 90 minutes and schema therapy in 9 sessions of 90 minutes for two months, and no training was applied to the control group. The present research instruments included cognitive flexibility (Dennis & Vander Wal, 2010) and physical self-esteem (Cash, 2012). The statistical method of this research was the multivariate analysis of covariance and the Bonferroni post hoc test.

The results of multivariate covariance analysis showed that Positive psychotherapy and schema therapy improve cognitive flexibility and physical self-esteem in women seeking cosmetic surgery (p< 0.05), and their recovery rate is higher than the control group (p< 0.05).; but the two experimental groups were not significantly different (P< 0.05).

It seems that positive psychotherapy and schema therapy improves people's assessment of their physical appearance and increase people's perception of measuring, evaluating, and controlling the environment in women seeking cosmetic surgery.