The Effectiveness of Schema Therapy on Aggression and Emotion Dysregulation in Adolescent Girls with Self-harm

Background: Many interventions currently recommended for young people whose self-harm are clinic-based, delivered by mental health clinicians, and primarily aimed to address the underlying mood and personality disorders. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of schema therapy on aggression and emotion dysregulation in an adolescent girl with self-harm.Methods: The research method was semi-experimental with pre-test & post-test design with the control group. The study population included all female patients with self-harm who had been referred to public and private Center for Psychiatry and Psychology, Aram, during November to January in Tehran District ۳, Iran, in ۲۰۲۱. ۳۰ people were selected through purposive sampling method and randomly divided into two groups of experimental (n=۱۵) and control (n=۱۵). Questionnaires such as Aggression questionnaire (AGQ) and The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) were used for data collection. The emotional schema therapy was performed for ۸ sessions, ۹۰ minutes each for the experimental group, and the control group received none. Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANOVA) and one-way analysis of covariance (ANOVA) on the SPSS software version ۲۳ were used for data analysis.Results: In this study, participants ranged in age from ۱۲ to ۱۸ years old, with a mean of ۱۵.۵۳ years (SD = ۱.۸۴). Results suggest that the schema therapy approach had positive effects on aggression and emotion dysregulation in adolescent's girls with self-harm (P-value<۰.۰۰۱).Conclusions: Study results showed that schema therapy for aggression and emotion dysregulation was a cost-benefit intervention for adolescent girls with self-harm aged between ۱۲ and ۱۸.Background: Many interventions currently recommended for young people whose self-harm are clinic-based, delivered by mental health clinicians, and primarily aimed to address the underlying mood and personality disorders. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of schema therapy on aggression and emotion dysregulation in an adolescent girl with self-harm. Methods: The research method was semi-experimental with pre-test & post-test design with the control group. The study population included all female patients with self-harm who had been referred to public and private Center for Psychiatry and Psychology, Aram, during November to January in Tehran District ۳, Iran, in ۲۰۲۱. ۳۰ people were selected through purposive sampling method and randomly divided into two groups of experimental (n=۱۵) and control (n=۱۵). Questionnaires such as Aggression questionnaire (AGQ) and The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) were used for data collection. The emotional schema therapy was performed for ۸ sessions, ۹۰ minutes each for the experimental group, and the control group received none. Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANOVA) and one-way analysis of covariance (ANOVA) on the SPSS software version ۲۳ were used for data analysis. Results: In this study, participants ranged in age from ۱۲ to ۱۸ years old, with a mean of ۱۵.۵۳ years (SD = ۱.۸۴). Results suggest that the schema therapy approach had positive effects on aggression and emotion dysregulation in adolescent's girls with self-harm (P-value<۰.۰۰۱). Conclusions: Study results showed that schema therapy for aggression and emotion dysregulation was a cost-benefit intervention for adolescent girls with self-harm aged between ۱۲ and ۱۸.

Keywords:

Schema Therapy , Aggression , Emotion dysregulation , Adolescent girl , Self-harm