Fundamentals of Mental Health

Fundamentals of Mental Health

The effectiveness of emotion-focused therapy on self-criticism/reassurance and symptoms of social anxiety disorder

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
Shima Zohrabi 1
Abbas Abolghasemi 2
Mousa Kafi Masoole 2
Mahnaz Khosrojavid 3
1 Ph.D. student, Faculty of Literature and Human Sciences, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran.
2 Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Literature and Humanity Sciences, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran.
3 Associate professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Literature and Humanity Sciences, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran.
10.22038/jfmh.2023.23770
Abstract
Introduction: Social anxiety disorder is a condition where people feel very anxious in social situations. This has been conducted to assess the effectiveness of Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) on self-criticism/ reassurance and social anxiety symptoms.

 

Materials and Methods: The statistical population of this cross-sectional study included all the people aged 18-40 who were diagnosed with social anxiety disorder and referred to a psychological clinic from September to March of 2021 in Tehran city-Iran. Fourteen patients were selected using purposive sampling and assigned randomly into an equal experimental and control groups. The experimental group received EFT in five 120-minute weekly sessions, while the control group did not receive therapy intervention during this period. The Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN) and the Forms of Self-Criticizing/Attacking and Self-Reassuring Scale (FSCRS) were used for data collection. We analyzed the data through repeated measures ANOVA and SPSS-24.

 

Results: Emotion-focused therapy effectively reduced the scores of self-criticizing/attacking and self-reassuring and social anxiety symptoms (P< 0.001, P< 0.001, respectively).

 

Conclusion: Our findings highlight the positive role of emotion-focused therapy in improving self-criticism/reassurance and symptoms of social anxiety in patients with social anxiety disorder.
Keywords
Emotion-focused therapy
Self-criticism
Reassurance
Social anxiety disorder
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Fundamentals of Mental Health
Volume 25, Issue 6
November and December 2023
Pages 411-417