The Effectiveness of the Schema Therapy Approach on Quality of Life and Self-Criticism in Women with Suicidal Thoughts:A Quasi-Experimental Study

Women are victims of chaotic family conditions, social damage, and structural poverty. Hasty actions, women's ignorance and lack of attention to the consequences of the decision, despite the intense pressure on them, have provided the basis for suicide. The aim of the present study was to determine the effectiveness of schema therapy on quality of life and self-criticism in women with suicidal thoughts.

This was a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test/post-test design with a control group. The statistical population included all women with suicidal thoughts referred to Khurshid Hospital in Isfahan City in 2021. Among them, thirty women were selected by available sampling method and replaced randomly into experimental and control groups (15 people in each group). For the experimental group, Young’s schema therapy was applied for 8 sessions of 90 minutes (one session per week), and the control group remained on the waiting list for training. In order to collect data, Ware Jr and Sherbourne’s Quality of Life Questionnaire and Gilbert’s Self-Criticism Scale were used. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance.

The results showed that schema therapy group training has a significant effect on increasing the quality of life (p=0.029, F=5.398) and reducing self-criticism of women with suicidal thoughts (p<0.001, F=82.865).

The results of the current study showed that schema therapy can probably be effective in reducing the amount of suicidal thoughts by improving the quality of life and self-criticism. Therefore, therapists and health professionals can use schema therapy along with other effective methods to improve health-related characteristics.