Comparison of the efficacy of positive psychotherapy and schema therapy on illogical beliefs and body image in women seeking cosmetic surgery

The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of positive psychotherapy and schema therapy on illogical beliefs and body image in women seeking cosmetic surgery. The method of the present study was quasi-experimental with a pre-test-post-test design with the control group. The statistical population included all women seeking for cosmetic surgery who were referred to cosmetic surgery centers in Boroujerd, in 2021. Among them, 45 were randomly selected and randomly assigned to two experimental groups and one control group (15 people in each group). Positive psychotherapy was performed on the first group in 14 sessions of 90 minutes and schema therapy was performed on the second group in 12 sessions of 90 minutes for two months through Skype. Participants completed the Jones (1968) Illogical Beliefs Questionnaire and the Cash (2004) Body Image Questionnaire before and after the interventions. SPSS-21 software and multivariate analysis of covariance were used for data analysis. The results showed that positive psychotherapy and schema therapy reduced illogical beliefs and increased body image in women applying cosmetic surgery (p<0.001) and their recovery rate was higher than the participants in the control group (p>0.001). Moreover, the results of the follow-up test indicated that there is no statistically significant difference between these two groups in illogical beliefs and body image (P < 0.05). The obtained results point to the greater use of these two interventions to change the psychological variables involved in the tendency towards cosmetic surgeries.