Emotional Schema Therapy for Adults Diagnosed with Mental Health Problems: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Emotional schema therapy (EST) is an approach that aims to regulate emotions, thus alleviating mental health problems. Although emotional schema therapy (EST) was used for various mental health problems, no review has been conducted on the evidence of this intervention so far. Therefore, this review aimed to examine the evidence base for the EST in treating adults diagnosed with mental health problems using randomized controlled trials in clinical settings and subsequently evaluated the quality of these trials. This systematic review adhered to the general principles published by the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD). Searches of five databases (PsycINFO, EBSCO, Medline (Ovid), EMBASE, clinicaltrails.gov) were conducted in April 2024, and the results were reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Only four randomized controlled trials were included in this review; the risk bias of the trials was generally high. The beneficial effects of emotional schema therapy still need to be clarified, with very few randomized controlled trials examining it. It is crucial to emphasize the need for a more rigorous methodology to assess such effects, underlining the necessity of improving research practices.