Emotional Schema Therapy for Bipolar Disorder: Improving Emotional Schemas, Quality of Life, Cognitive Emotion Regulation, and Symptom Management

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of group emotional schema therapy (EST) on emotional schemas, quality of life, cognitive emotion regulation strategies, and symptoms of patients with bipolar disorder. The study participants consisted of 16 individuals aged 20 to 50, randomly assigned to the emotional schema therapy group or the waiting list control group. The therapy group attended 12 weekly sessions. The measures used were the Leahy Emotional Schema Scale (LESS), the World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF), the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ), the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), and the Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS). The study consisted of pre-test and post-test assessments. The results showed that participants in the intervention group significantly improved emotional schemas, quality of life, cognitive emotion regulation strategies, and symptoms. Overall, this study suggests that group emotional schema therapy may be a practical treatment approach for patients with bipolar disorder.