Investigating the efficacy of schema therapy on self-criticism and shame in addicts undergoing methadone maintenance treatment

One of the psychological aspects of substance abuse that has been noticed in recent years is the feeling of shame and Self-criticism. Studies have shown that self-blame and shame can lead a person to addiction and keep him in the cycle of addiction. One of the psychological intervention models in the third treatment of substance abuse is schema therapy, but there is a research gap regarding its efficacy on the feeling of shame and self- criticism in the research community.

The present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the efficacy of schema therapy on feelings of shame and Self-criticism in addicts undergoing methadone maintenance treatment.

The current research design was a semi-experimental pre-test-post-test type with a control group and a three-month follow-up. The statistical population included all addiction treatment clinics in the 5th district of Tehran in the years 2021-2022, where the clients were receiving maintenance treatment with methadone. Among the people of the statistical population, 30 people were selected by multi-stage cluster random sampling method and were randomly assigned to two groups of 15 people for testing and control. In the intervention sessions of schema therapy treatment, Young (1999) protocol was used and self- criticism (Gilbert et al., 2004) and shame (Cohen et al., 2011) scales were used to collect data. Analysis of variance repeated measurements, Post hoc Benferoni test and SPSS26 software were used for data analysis.

The findings of this research showed that in the experimental group (schema therapy intervention), the post-test and follow-up scores of self- criticism, shame and their components decreased significantly compared to the pre-test scores (P<0.001). Also, no significant difference was observed in the scores of the mentioned variables between the post-test and follow-up stages, which indicates the continuation of the efficacy of the intervention in the follow-up stage (P>0.05).

According to the findings, it can be concluded that schema therapy by reconstructing and revising the initial negative schemas reduces possible psychological problems such as self- criticism and shame in addicts undergoing maintenance treatment. Therefore, it is recommended to repeat the experiment in other groups and more samples