Comparison of the Effectiveness of Schema Therapy and Imago Therapy Approaches on Sensitivity to Rejection and Love Addiction in Emotional Divorce

The family is the first and most unique social institution and the health and well-being of a society is owed to the health and satisfaction of its members (1). The most prominent factor in the collapse of the family is the damage called divorce, which has devastating effects on the individual, the family and the community. Divorce may take place formally or legally or informally when the couple cohabites without intimacy and interest (2). Divorce is no longer an individual problem. Rather, it is a multi-stage process that is significant not only in terms of its effects on spouses and their children, but also because of its negative effects on society and the economy in general (7). In fact, emotional divorce is "the last step in a marriage." The rate of emotional divorces in the country is twice that of formal divorces. No action has been taken in relation to emotional divorce at home and abroad, and usually most actions are based on the emotional and emotional pressures of couples after divorce. The most important cause of divorce is the irresponsibility of the spouse (husband and wife) and the lack of adaptive skills. One of the barriers to marital problems and incompatibility, such as emotional divorce, is love addiction (10,11). Although, at present, love addiction has not yet found its place in psychiatry, there is now a greater understanding of behavioral addiction in the mental health literature (14). What is a missing link in the effects of emotional divorce can be a spouse with a high sensitivity to rejection that leads to marital bondage. Sensitivity to rejection is defined as anxious expectations of rejection, a state of defensive expectation. For quick understanding, it is a strong reaction to rejection that can be a potential barrier to conflicts in intimate marital relationships between spouses. Sensitivity to high rejection in one or both spouses can lead to personal discomfort as well as maladaptive behaviors that can damage the marital bond (15).
One of the most important ways to form a cohesive family is family education, and if the teachings are appropriate to the knowledge of individuals and attractive, it can provide the necessary information transfer (17). Imago is a couple therapy approach, developed by Hendrix to improve the quality of a couple's relationship (18). Schema therapy is also a relatively new treatment method for the treatment of chronic and persistent disorders (22). Schema examines how people think, how they perceive and process, and how they remember information. Inconsistent schemas lead to bias in the interpretation of events (23). Among the factors affecting the mental health of human beings, the family has a very important role, many mental and behavioral abnormalities of human beings are rooted in the family. Emotional divorce makes the couple sick and the children of the family suffer the most. Prolonged coldness of the relationship can cause depression and isolation of couples and mental disorders in them or lead to a series of infidelities that will cause serious harm to the family and society. Recognizing the symptoms and problems that lead to emotional divorce can be the first step to change. And identifying therapeutic interventions that improve couples' interpersonal relationships is clinically and theoretically important. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the comparison of the effectiveness of schema therapy and imago therapy approaches on sensitivity to rejection and love addiction in emotional divorce.

The present study was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest, posttest and follow-up (quarterly) design with a control group. The statistical population of this study was the people who referred to Shahid Mofteh Judicial Complex in the west of Tehran in 2019. Purposeful sampling was used in this study. 137 clients who had referred to this branch to file a marriage complaint or request for divorce were selected according to the inclusion criteria and willingness to participate in the study. Then 101 people were initially evaluated according to Cochran's formula by the Emotional Divorce Questionnaire. After the number of clients reached the desired volume based on experimental theories, at least 15 people were considered for each group, and 45 people were randomly assigned to one of three groups: schema therapy, imago therapy, or control group. Interventions in two groups of schema therapy and imago therapy were held in parallel during 12 sessions of 90 minutes in groups and weekly. In order to analyze the hypotheses, multivariate analysis of covariance and Bonferroni post hoc test with repeated measures were used. In these analyzes, the effect of the control variable was removed from the dependent variable and then the groups were compared with each other.

The results showed that no significant difference was observed between the groups in the pretest. But in the post-test and follow-up, there was a significant difference between the mean of love addiction and rejection sensitivity in schema therapy and imago therapy with the mean of the control group at the level of p <0.01. Imago therapy approach was more effective in the love addiction variable than the rejection sensitivity variable in the schema therapy approach.

The results showed that schema therapy and imago therapy have a significant effect on sensitivity to rejection and love addiction compared to the control group in people involved in emotional divorce. Comparison of the two treatments showed that there was no significant difference between the mean of the rejection sensitivity variable by schema therapy and the mean of the imago group. It also showed that there is a difference between the effectiveness of schema therapy and imago therapy in reducing the variable of love addiction and this difference was in favor of the imago therapy group. The results in the follow-up phase are stable. We believe that the effectiveness of schema therapy is due to structural changes in the patient's personality, which is the goal of any schema therapist, and not only because of symptom improvements as a result of structural changes, but also due to initial emotional irregularity due to maladaptive regulatory strategy. Pathologies), gives way to emotional regulation (adults). Schema therapy and the need for new therapies, which can bring complete recovery to patients, will be a powerful boost to the study of new clinical applications of this model (34). Imago therapy training promotes dialogue between spouses, increases self-understanding and understanding of spouses, understanding of one's own childhood and spouse's childhood, as well as self-confidence (46).  According to research, love addiction seems to be abundant in people who have an insecure attachment style as a child and have a dependent personality and abandonment-instability schema. In fact, it is the prominent role of childhood that can have a significant impact on the creation of early maladaptive schemas as well as the creation of dependent characters and as a result addiction to love and emotional relationships in adulthood. Sensitivity to rejection often leads to distortions and misinterpretations of one's spouse's actions. Rejected children are also more likely to behave aggressively. People who experience high levels of rejection sensitivity experience greater levels of psychological anxiety if rejected. In fact, people addicted to love typically lose interest in activities outside of romantic relationships such as close friends, hobbies, and sports. And experience academic or work difficulties due to lack of focus on other areas of life (47). The present study, like other researches in the field of behavioral sciences, has faced limitations. Available sampling method Instead of non-random sampling, use self-reporting tool that can be considered as an internal interfering variable. schema therapy and imago therapy can be used to reduce the effect of rejection sensitivity and imago therapy can be used to reduce the variable of love addiction in people involved in emotional divorce.