The Effectiveness of Schema Therapy and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy on the Rate of Using Negative Automatic Thoughts in Depressive Patients

Purpose: The aim of the current study was to investigate the effectiveness of schema therapy and mindfulness based cognitive therapy on the rate of using negative automatic thoughts in women with major depression in Mashhad. Participants were 36 depressed women clients, randomly selected and randomly designated to 3 groups (two experimental group and control group). Materials and method: This study was a quasi-experimental with a pre-test, post-test and 2 months follow-up design. Negative automatic thoughts questionnaire used to gather data about subjects negative automatic thoughts. Descriptive statistics and differential statistics (repeated analysis of variance) were employed to test the research hypothesis. Findings: Results showed that schema therapy and mindfulness based cognitive therapy were effective in decreasing negative automatic thoughts in women with depressive disorder. Discussion: schema therapy and mindfulness based cognitive therapy can significantly help depressed people to control their negative automatic thought.