The Effectiveness of Schema Therapy on Alexithymia and Problem Solving in Women with Marital Maladjustment
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Objective: Marital maladjustment is associated with persistent conflict, emotional disconnection, and impaired interpersonal functioning. Given its focus on early maladaptive schemas, emotional processing, and dysfunctional coping patterns, schema therapy may be an effective intervention for improving these difficulties.
Methods and Materials: This study employed a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design with a control group. The statistical population consisted of women with marital maladjustment who referred to counseling centers and family clinics in Tehran, Iran, in 2026. Thirty eligible participants were selected through purposive sampling and randomly assigned to an experimental group (n = 15) and a control group (n = 15). The experimental group received eight 90-minute sessions of schema therapy, while the control group remained on a waiting list. Data were collected using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and the Problem Solving Inventory (PSI). Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis of covariance.
Findings: The findings indicated that, after controlling for pretest scores, there was a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in the combined posttest scores of alexithymia and problem solving. Follow-up univariate analyses showed that schema therapy significantly reduced alexithymia and significantly improved problem solving in women with marital maladjustment.
Conclusion: Schema therapy was effective in improving emotional awareness and problem-solving ability among women with marital maladjustment. The findings suggest that schema therapy may be a useful intervention for reducing emotional difficulties and promoting more adaptive cognitive-interpersonal functioning in this population.
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