The Effectiveness of Emotional Schema Therapy with Metacognitive Therapy on Reducing Symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder in elderly people

Abstract

According to recent studies, the rate of anxiety disorders is high but they are largely undetected and untreated. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the combination of metacognitive therapy and emotional schema therapy on Reducing Symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder in elderly people. The present study was quasi-experimental with pre-test and post-test and control group. The statistic population consisted Isfahan's elderly subjects with Generalized anxiety disorder (based on Generalized anxiety disorder scale- 7 item and clinical interview [SCID]) in 2017 which 30 subject were selected based on entrance criteria and assigned randomly in two groups of experimental (15 subject) and control (15 subject). After satisfying them, the experimental group has participated in group-based treatment designed by the researcher consisting of 12 sessions of 1 hour, and finally, the GAD-7 questionnaire was distributed as a post-test and was completed by them. Data were analyzed using covariance analysis by SPSS 22. Data analysis showed that combining emotional schema and meta-cognitive therapy can significantly reduce worry and anxiety symptoms in elderly people with a generalized anxiety disorder (P=0/001). Emotional Schema Therapy can be considered in combination with metacognitive therapy as an effective and more integral treatment than other therapies in psychological interventions in elderly people with a generalized anxiety disorder.

Keywords

• metacognitive therapy
• emotional schema therapy
• generalized anxiety disorder
• elderly people