Abstract:

Background and Aim: The prevalence of marital incompatibility and its effect on the physical and mental health of couples and children, has caused mental health professionals to pay special attention to the field of couple therapy; Therefore, this study was conducted to compare the effectiveness of short-term dynamic psychotherapy and schema therapy on mental health and marital adjustment of couples. Methods: The present study is applied and experimental with pre-test and post-test design. Among couples in Tehran in 1400, 45 people were selected by available sampling method and one group waiting for treatment and two experimental groups (15 people in each group) were randomly replaced. One experimental group received 8 sessions of 90 minutes with schema therapy and one experimental group received 8 sessions of 90 minutes with short-term dynamic psychotherapy and the waiting group did not receive any training. The groups completed the Mental Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) and the Spanier Marital Adjustment Questionnaire as pre-test and post-test. Analysis of covariance was used to analyze the data. Results: The results showed that the mean score of mental health was significantly different in the experimental group of short-term dynamic psychotherapy and in the experimental group of schema therapy (p <0.01) and this rate was not significantly different in the control group. The results also showed that schema therapy was more effective and lasting than short-term dynamic psychotherapy in improving and increasing marital adjustment of couples. Conclusion: The findings of this study recognize the importance of the use of short-term scan schema therapy and psychotherapy in increasing the mental health and marital adjustment of couples. These two approaches can be used to reduce the harms of marital relationships.

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