Comparing the effectiveness of emotion-focused therapy and schema therapy on self-efficacy and its components in addicts undergoing methadone maintenance treatment: A clinical trial study

Addiction treatment is one of the challenges facing mental health studies, leading to failure if psychological components are not considered.

The present study aimed to compare the effectiveness of emotion-focused therapy and schema therapy on the self-efficacy of addicts undergoing methadone maintenance treatment.

The research was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest control group design. The study population included all addicts undergoing methadone maintenance treatment in de-addiction clinics in district 5 of Tehran during 2021-2022, of which 3 clinics and 54 patients were purposefully selected, based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria and placed randomly in two experimental groups and one control group. The research instrument was Sherer's General Self-efficacy Scale (1982). The data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA and Bonferroni post hoc test through SPSS-26.

The results showed that schema therapy significantly affected self-efficacy (P<0.001, F(1.167, 32.687)=43.881). Emotion-focused therapy also improved significantly self-efficacy (P<0.001, F(2, 56)=29.048). Moreover, the results from comparing the two treatment methods indicated that in the post-test stage, emotion-focused therapy was more effective in improving self-efficacy and the component "coping with obstacles" in addicts undergoing methadone maintenance treatment than schema therapy.

Considering the effectiveness of both treatments on self-efficacy and its components, it is suggested that therapists of addicts, especially patients treated with methadone, use these treatment methods to treat clients. Additionally, as emotion-focused therapy had a relative superiority, it can be used especially to improve coping with obstacles.