Comparing the Effectiveness of Schema Therapy With Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on Cognitive Avoidance in Patients With Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Objective: This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of schema therapy with acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) using exposure techniques on cognitive avoidance in female patients with generalized anxiety disorder. Methods: A total of ۱۰ women with generalized anxiety disorder were selected through purposeful sampling with Structured Clinical Interview for DSM Disorders (SCID-۵). To determine the absence of personality disorder, Millon’s clinical multiaxial inventory (MCMI-III) (Millon and Groosman, ۲۰۰۵) was used. Schema therapy was conducted for ۲۰ weekly sessions and ACT with exposure techniques for ۱۲ weeks and follow-up for ۶ weeks. The cognitive avoidance questionnaire (CAQ) (Sexton and Douglas, ۲۰۰۴) was used as a pretest and posttest to follow up on the results. Analysis of variance with repeated measures was used to test the research hypotheses. Results: The results showed that schema therapy is more effective than ACT in the subscales of thought suppression (F=۱۲.۸۰, P=۰.۰۳۷) and avoidance of threatening (F=۲۵.۶۱, P=۰.۰۱۵), but they have no significant statistical difference in other subscales and total score. Both treatments significantly reduced the total score of cognitive avoidance, but they lacked a statistically significant difference. Conclusion: Schema therapy and ACT with exposure techniques are effective in reducing the severity of symptoms and improving cognitive avoidance in females with generalized anxiety disorder.

کلیدواژه ها:

Schema therapy ، Acceptance and commitment therapy ، Avoidance learning ، Anxiety disorders