Comparing the Effectiveness of Cognitive Analytic and Cognitive Behavioral Psychodrama Group Therapy on Interpersonal Problems and Emotional Regulation Difficulties in Divorced Women

Introduction: The current study aims to compare the effectiveness of cognitive-analytic and cognitive-behavioral psychodrama group therapy on reducing the interpersonal problems and emotion regulation difficulties in divorced women. Method: This research was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest, posttest design, and a control group. The statistical population of the present study included all divorced women who were referred to private counseling centers under the supervision of Welfare Organization in Mashhad (84 centers) in 2018. Among the statistical population, by convenient sampling method, 36 people who met the inclusion criteria were selected and randomly placed into three groups; Experiment 1,2 and Control. Experimental group 1, participated in sixteen, 120-minute sessions of cognitive analytic group therapy and experimental group 2 participated in sixteen, 120-minute sessions of cognitive-behavioral psychodrama group therapy. The 60-items Interpersonal Problems Questionnaire (IIP-60) by Horowitz et al, and the Gretz and Roemer Difficulty of Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) were used to collect data. Data analysis of the present study was performed using Mixed ANOVA and Bonferroni post hoc test by SPSS software version 20. Result: The results indicated that both cognitive-analytic and cognitive behavioral psychodrama group therapies were able to significantly reduce the interpersonal problems and difficulty of emotion regulation of divorced women (p 0.01). In addition, cognitive-behavioral psychodrama group therapy had a greater effect than cognitive analytic group therapy on reducing interpersonal problems and difficulty of emotion regulation. Conclusion: Therefore, according to the obtained results, cognitive-behavioral psychodrama group therapy and cognitive-analytic group therapy can be utilized to reduce interpersonal problems and the difficulties of emotion regulation in divorced women.