Comparing the Effectiveness of Schema Therapy and Emotional Schema Therapy on Emotion Regulation of Individuals with Obsessive Compulsive Symptoms

Abstract Introduction: Due to the prevalence of Obsessive Compulsive Symptoms (OCS), it seems that actions should be taken to prevent its recurrence. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to compare the effectiveness of Schema Therapy (ST) and Emotional Schema Therapy (EST) on the emotion regulation of patients with OCS. Method: This semi-experimental study was carried out on 24 patients with OSC in three groups of ST (n=8), EST (n=8) and control (n=8) in Mashhad, Iran. The intervention groups received individual EST and ST Sessions. The data were collected by Maudsley Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (MOCAI) and Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) in four stages of pre-test, post-test, one and three months follow up. The MANOVA test was utilized to analyze data. Results: During the above stages, the mean score of expressive suppression and cognitive reappraisal subscales fell and soared significantly in the EST group, respectively (p <0.05). There was a significant difference between the groups of intervention and control in terms of the average total obsessive-compulsive score and its sub-scales except for the slow sub-scales during all three stages after the intervention, one month later and three months later (p <0.05). Conclusion: Although both ST and EST methods had an effect on the improvement of emotion regulation and OCS, the EST was more effective on improving emotion regulation. Therefore, it is recommended to consider EST with a larger sample size in people with OCS.