Comparison of psychological turmoil, life orientation, difficulty in regulating emotion and emotional schemas in mothers of mentally retarded and normal children

 Introduction: Due to the profound impact of mentally retarded children on the lives of family members, especially mothers, and the lack of research in this area, the aim of this study was to compare psychological disturbance, life orientation, difficulty in regulating emotion and emotional schemas in mothers of mentally retarded children and Sabzevar is a normal city.  Methods: The method of this causal-comparative study and the statistical population includes all mothers of normal and mentally retarded children who referred to rehabilitation centers and clinics in Sabzevar between January and February 2017. The sample size included 50 mothers of mentally retarded children and 50 mothers of healthy children who were selected by multi-stage cluster random sampling. Research tools include the Loybond (1997) Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale, Chang (1997) Extensive Life Orientation Questionnaire, Leak Emotion Difficulty Regulation (2004), and Leahy (2002) Emotional Schemas. The data were analyzed by multivariate analysis of variance using SPSS 24 statistical software. Results: The results showed that between consistent emotional schemas (p <0.003) and maladaptive (p <0.001), emotion regulation difficulty (p <0.003), life orientation (p <0.003) and Psychological disorder (p <0.003) There is a significant difference between mothers of mentally retarded and normal children. Conclusion: Based on the findings of the study, it can be said that mothers of mentally retarded children due to psychological, emotional and social vulnerability have compatible emotional schemas and low life orientation and maladaptive emotional schemas, difficulty in regulating emotion and more psychological turmoil that needs to be applied. Appropriate psychological therapies addressed these problems.