Effectiveness of Schema Therapy in Social Anxiety, Rumination, and Psychological Well-Being among Depressed Patients Referred to Health Centers in Abadan, Iran

Background: Depression is a syndrome that includes many symptoms and can have a negative impact on a patient's life. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of schema therapy on social anxiety, rumination and psychological well-being in depressed patients. Methods: The research method was semi-experimental with pre-test, post-test, follow-up, and control group. The statistical population of this study included all patients with depression referred to Abadan Health Center in 2019. In this study, 30 patients with depression who wished to participate in the study were selected by convenient sampling method from among patients with research centers and were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups (each group consisted of 15 patients). The experimental group underwent schema therapy in 10 sessions of 90 minutes, but the control group did not receive any treatment. Data were collected using the Beck Depression Inventory, Social Anxiety Inventory, Rumination Questionnaire, and Psychological Well-Being Questionnaire. Data analysis was performed by repeated measure analysis of variance using SPSS software version 23. Results: The results showed that schema therapy was effective on rumination (P=0.034), social anxiety (P=0.004), and psychological well-being (P=0.022) in depressed patients. Conclusion: It can be concluded that schema therapy was effective on rumination, social anxiety, and psychological well-being in depressed patients.