The Effectiveness of the Schema Therapy with the Group Method on the Women with Social Anxiety

Abstract

Generalized anxiety disorder is a common psychiatric disorder. The cognitive models of social anxiety emphasize on the important role of dysfunctional cognitions in the formation and maintenance of social anxiety; one of the new cognitive approaches in the treatment is the schema therapy. This study is conducted with the aim of the effectiveness of schema therapy with the group method on the women with social anxiety. This study design form is quasi-experimental with the control group. In order to implement the study by the covariance method, 30 women were selected with a diagnosis of social anxiety by the professionals in Tehran city with the purposive sampling method in 2016; and after the implementation of the pre-test and after reviewing the homogeneity of the mean scores of each scale, they were included in two control and study groups that each one had 15 participants. The study group has received the schema treatment trainings over a period of 60 days in 10 90-minute sessions by two of the senior experts of Family Counseling and Clinical Psychology. But the control group did not receive any training. The Social Phobia Inventory of Connor and et al (2000) has been used for the evaluation. The covariance analysis results showed that there is a significant difference between the study and control groups in the scale of social anxiety. In other words, it can be said that the made changes are the result of the medical interventions and the effect of the independent variable. Also, the Eta square shows the coefficient of the schema-based therapeutic effect on the improvement of the symptoms of social anxiety of the study group.