Comparison of the Effectiveness of Schema Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on CommunicationSkills and Problem Solving and Mental Health in Couples with Extra-Marital Experience

Introduction: Marital infidelity is a problem that severely affects people's lives and is one of the main causes of divorce. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of Schema Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on communication and problem solving skills and mental health in couples with marital infidelity. Method: The present study is an experimental one with pre-test and post-test design. Among couples facing marital infidelity in Qain in 1997, 30 individuals were selected by convenience sampling and were randomly assigned to two experimental groups of 15 each. One experimental group received 8 sessions of 90 minutes with schema therapy and one group received 8 sessions of 90 minutes with cognitive behavioral therapy. The groups completed the Mental Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) and communication skills and problem solving questionnaire as pre-test and post-test. One-way and multivariate analysis of variance was used to analyze the data. Results: The mean score of mental health in the pre-test was 146/04 and the post-test was 03/109 in the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Experimental group, and in the Schema Therapy Experimental group was 133.07 and in the Post-test it was 63.01(p<0.01). and this difference in the control group in pre-test 65 and in post-test 152.30 which had no significant difference. The mean score of communication skills in the pre-test and post-test was 1.4000 and in the cognitive behavioral therapy test group was 4.4000 and in the Schema therapy group was 1.2000 and in the post test it was 4.7000 and the difference was significant (p<0.01)and this rate in the control group in pre-test9.000 and post-test 8.7500 which were not significantly different. Mean score of problem solving in pre-test and post-test 0.8000 and 5.5000 in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and experimental groups respectively. Schema therapy in pre-test and post-test were 1.95000 and 5.8700 and the difference was significant (p<0.01). There were no significant differences in pre-test and 8.4400 and post-test 8.9500. Conclusion: The results support the effect of two methods of cognitive-behavioral therapy and schema therapy on increasing mental health and communication and problem-solving skills.