Comparing the Effectiveness of Schema Therapy and Neurofeedback in Reducing Depression in People with a History of Covid-19

The spread of coronavirus not only threatens physical health but also negatively affects the mental health of society. The aim of this research was to compare the effectiveness of schema therapy and neurofeedback in reducing depression in people with a history of Covid-19.

The current research method was quasi-experimental with a multi-group pre-test-post-test design with a control group. The study population included all depressed people with a history of Covid-19 who visited counseling clinics in Tehran during the first 6 months of 1401. Among the mentioned population, 45 people were selected by convenience sampling method and a simple randomization was used to divide them into three groups of 15 people as the neurofeedback treatment group, schema therapy group and control group. They answered the Beck’s depression questionnaire in two stages: pre-test and post-test. Analysis of covariance using SPSS-25 software was used to analyze the data.

Results showed that the depression scores of the intervention groups in the post-test compared to the pre-test were significantly reduced, and this rate was higher in the schema therapy group than in the neurofeedback group (p<0.01).

Based on the results, both schema therapy and neurofeedback methods can help to reduce depression in people with a history of Covid-19, although it appears that schema therapy has been more effective. Therefore, these two treatments can be used to improve the mental health of the society