Comparison of the Effectiveness of Short-Term Psychodynamic Therapy and Schema Therapy on Childhood Trauma in Women with Emotional Divorce
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Objective: This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of short-term psychodynamic therapy and schema therapy on childhood trauma symptoms among women experiencing emotional divorce.
Methods and Materials: This quasi-experimental study used a pretest–posttest control-group design with a two-month follow-up. The participants were 45 women with emotional divorce who referred to counseling and psychology clinics in District 1 of Tehran in 2025. Participants were selected through purposive sampling and randomly assigned to three groups: short-term psychodynamic therapy, schema therapy, and control, with 15 participants in each group. The intervention groups received 15 sessions of intensive short-term dynamic psychotherapy and 8 sessions of schema therapy, respectively. Data were collected using the Emotional Divorce Questionnaire and Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Repeated-measures analysis of variance and Bonferroni post hoc tests were used for data analysis.
Findings: The repeated-measures analysis showed significant effects of group, time, and time × group interaction on childhood trauma scores. The group effect was significant, F = 9.32, p < .001, η² = .313, and the time × group interaction was significant, F = 7.62, p < .001, η² = .266. Both short-term psychodynamic therapy and schema therapy significantly reduced childhood trauma compared with the control group. At posttest, the mean difference between short-term psychodynamic therapy and control was −3.26 (p < .001), and between schema therapy and control was −2.64 (p = .005). No significant difference was found between the two intervention groups (p = 1.00).
Conclusion: Short-term psychodynamic therapy and schema therapy were both effective in reducing childhood trauma among women experiencing emotional divorce, with no evidence of superiority of one approach over the other.
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