ARTICLE INFO

Article Type

Original Research

Authors

Mikaeili   N. (1)
Molavi   P. (2)
Einy   S. (*)
Tagavy   R. (3)






(*) Psychology, Educational Sciences & Psychology, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran
(1) Psychology, Educational Sciences & Psychology, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran
(2) Psychiatry, Medical, Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, Ardabil, Iran
(3) Psychology, Psychology, Ardabil Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ardabil, Iran

Correspondence

Address: Psychology and Educational Sciences Faculty, End of Daneshgah Street, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran
Phone: +98 (45) 33262678
Fax: +98 (45) 33511508
sanaz.einy@yahoo.com

Article History

Received:  January  29, 2017
Accepted:  March 11, 2017
ePublished:  July 27, 2017

BRIEF TEXT


PTSD is a collection of symptoms of a kind of syndrome that is found in the face of life-threatening accidents. The person responds to this experience in form of fear and frustration. This person constantly imagines the event and at the same time wants to avoid its reminder. The clinical features of this disorder, the painful event of a reoccurrence of the event, a pattern of avoidance, emotional numbness and relatively permanent arousal [1].

… [2-33]. According to researches, it has been shown that emotion-focused therapy is a good and effective treatment, including reducing symptoms of depression, and emotional regulation of disturbed couples [34], reducing symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stress of students [35], improving the quality of life in depressed students [36], and generally leads to improved quality of life and psychological well-being of individuals.

The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of emotion-focused therapy on emotional dysregulation, suicidal ideation, and hopelessness in veterans with PTSD.

This is a semi-experimental research with pretest-posttest design with control group.

This study was performed among all veterans with PTSD who had referred to an Ardabil Psychiatric Hospital called Isar in 2016.

50 participants were selected through convenience sampling method that randomly assigned into two groups of control and experimental.

1- PTSD Checklist – Military Version (PCL-M): This tool is made up 17 five-option items that have been prepared based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (DSM_IV), as a diagnostic tool by Wenders et al. for the National Center of Post-Traumatic Disorder in the United States [37]. 5, 7, and 5 items are respectively related to re-experiencing signs of injury, the symptoms of emotional numbness and avoidance, and symptoms of severe arousal. The cutting score for the post-traumatic disorder is considered to be 50. … [38, 39]. 2- Beck Desperate Inventory (BHS): This questionnaire was created by Aaron T Beck in 1979 to assess and measure the individual's expectations of future incidents. This test has 20 sentences that express the individual's mindset. The sentences are answered in form of correct or incorrect. The questionnaire measures three dimensions of disappointment, including a person's feelings about the future, lack of motivation or loss of motivation, and expectations. The questionnaire has been designed for people ages 17 to 80, and the obtained score in it is between zero and 20 that a higher score indicates more disappointment [40]. … [41, 42]. 3- Beck Suicidal Thinking Scale (BSSI): to measure suicidal thoughts, Beck et al Suicidal Thinking Scale (BSSI) was used. This scale was designed by Beck et al. in 1974 and contains 19 three-option questions to detect, measure of attitude, and planning for suicide and its constituent elements. Questions have three options: “no”, “to some extent”, and “a lot” [43]. 4- Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS): this scale was developed by Gratz and Roemer [44] with the goal of examining emotional regulation problem, with 36 items. This instrument which is a self-reporting scale, has six subscales of: lack of acceptance of emotional responses (6 items), limited access to emotional regulation strategies by pressure (8 items), difficulty in performing purposeful behaviors during stress (5 items), lack of emotional awareness (6 items), lack of emotional clarity (5 items) and difficulty in controlling impulsive pressure (6 items). This tool is scored on a five-degree scale from “almost never” to “almost always”. The high score indicates the problems of emotional setting. … [44, 45]. At first, pretest was carried out. Then weekly EFL training sessions were hold for the experimental group for 8 sessions of 1.5 hours. Based on emotion-focused therapy, change is created by helping people with creating emotion and through the development, adjustment, feedback, transfer, and modified emotional experience of the communication context that facilitates these processes (Table 1) [46]. Eventually, after the completion of the training sessions, both groups participated in the posttest. Statistical analysis Data were analyzed using SPSS 23 software using multivariate analysis of covariance analysis in SPSS 23 software. For the implementation of the covariance analysis test, its assumption (Levin test and Box test) were first examined. The results of the Box test confirmed the general assumption of homogeneity of variance-covariance. Levin's test results also showed that the variances of the two groups are equal in the variables studied at the community level. Therefore, to investigate the effectiveness of emotion-focused therapy (independent variable) on suicidal thoughts, disappointment, and emotional dysregulation in veterans with PTSD (dependent variables), multivariate analysis of covariance analysis was used.

The mean age in the experimental group and control group was 51.20±8.20 and 50.70±7.40 years in the experimental and control group respectively. Also, in the experimental group 16, and 9 respectively had under diploma and diploma and higher education respectively, and in the control group 12, and 13 had under diploma and diploma and higher education respectively. Mean scores of emotional maladaptive, suicidal ideation, and disappointment variables were significantly different between the experimental group and control groups in posttest with the control of pretest effect and the treatment intervention significantly decreased the mean scores of these variables (Table 2).

The results of this study showed that emotion-focused therapy was effective in reducing the suicidal ideation of veterans with PTSD in the experimental group. This finding is fairly consistent with earlier studies [31-33, 47]. … [48, 49].

It is suggested that in future studies, the extent and type of interpersonal and family problems of veterans be studied in order to investigate the relationship between these interactions and the interpersonal conditions with improvement or emergence of emotional problems of veterans with PTSD.

This research was conducted on veterans with PTSD in Ardabil Psychiatric Hospital, called Isar that causes the problems in generalization of the data other cities.

Emotion-focused therapy can reduce emotional dysregulation, suicidal thoughts, and disappointment of veterans with PTSD.

In the end, the authors of this article are grateful to the dear veterans of Ardabil Isar Psychiatric Hospital, as well as the support of the officials of the Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs in Ardabil city.

Non-declared

Prior to the implementation of the research, coordination with Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs in Ardabil Province was carried out and the consent of the participation in this study was taken from the participants.

This study is based on research work and no financial support was obtained from any institution or organization.

TABLES and CHARTS

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