Comparing the effectiveness of metacognitive group therapy and behavioral activation on guilt in women with dysthymic disorder

The aim of the present study was to compare the effectiveness of metacognitive therapy and behavioral activation therapy on guilt in women with dysthymic disorder. The current research was a semi-experimental study with a pre-test-post-test design and control and with follow-up groups. The statistical population of this research included all women with dysthymic disorder who were referred to psychological clinics located in the 8th district of Tehran in 1400, and 45 people were selected in a purposeful way and randomly assigned to two experimental groups, and one control group. The instrument of this research was Kugler and Jon's Guilt Questionnaire (1992) (CJGFQ). For the first experimental group, metacognitive therapy (Wells, 2009), and for the second experimental group behavioral activation therapy (Dimidjian et al., 2008) was held in 8 90-minute sessions twice a week. The data were analyzed using mixed variance analysis. The results of the Varbans analysis showed that there is a significant difference between the groups in the post-test and follow-up of guilt and its components (p>0.05). The results showed that both interventions were effective in guilt and its components, but the behavior activation intervention showed more effectiveness, and a significant difference was observed between the two treatments (p>0.05). Based on the results of this study, it can be said that due to the greater effect of behavioral activation therapy on reducing guilt, alone or with complementary treatment, it can be effective in reducing guilt caused by depression in women with dysthymic disorder.