The Effectiveness of Schema Focused Approach to Group Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy on Improving Depression, Anxiety, and Maladaptive Childhood Schemas of Traumatized Women

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of schema focused approach to group cognitive-behavioral therapy on improving depression, anxiety, and maladaptive childhood schemas of traumatized women.The research applies a quasi-experiment with pre-test, post-test and follow-up assessment. The statistical population is all the traumatized women refered to to health centers in Mashhad. In this research, 60 traumatized women having anxiety and depression were selected in 5 months through convenient sampling and they were randomly divided into two schema and control groups.The experimental group received schema therapy in ten 60-minute sessions and the control group did not receive any treatment. Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Anxiety Inventory and Young's Schema Questionnaire were used in this study; analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was also used to analyze the data. The results of analysis of covariance indicated that schema focused approach to group cognitive-behavioral therapy is effective in improvement of depression and anxiety of traumatized women. It also shows a significant reduction in the scores of all of the early maladaptive schemas, except for the two schemes of abandonment / instability and subjugation in the experimental group. Conclusion It can be concluded that schema focused group cognitive-behavioral therapy approach is effective in modifying early maladaptive schemas and reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression.