The Effectiveness of “Positive Psychotherapy” on Self- Compassion, Self-Criticism, Perception of Suffering and Psychological Distressing of Infertile Women

Abstract Introduction: Infertility can have many psychological consequences. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of “Positive Psychotherapy” on self-compassion, self-criticism, perception of suffering and psychological distress in infertile women in Ahvaz.  Methods: The method of the present study was experimental with intervention group and control group with pre-test-post-test and 2-month follow-up. The study population was infertile women who had referred to infertility medical centers and clinics in Ahvaz in 2020 for infertility treatment. 40 people were selected based on the inclusion criteria of purposive sampling method and based on simple random sampling method, they were equally divided into two groups. Data were collected using demographic questionnaires, “Self-Compassion Scale”, “Self-Criticism Scale”, “Perception of Suffering Scale”, and “Kessler Psychological Distress Scale”. Content validity was performed by qualitative method and reliability was calculated by internal correlation by calculating Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The intervention group received 8 sessions of 90-minute “Positive Treatment” and the control group did not receive any intervention Data were analyzed in SPSS. 24.  Results: There were significant differences between the intervention and control groups in the variables of self- self-compassion (F=147.01, P=0.001), self-critical (F=304.71, P=0.001), perception of physical suffering (F=142.94, P=0.001), Perception of psychological suffering (F=117.51, P=0.001), Perception of existential suffering (F=119.45, P=0.001) and psychological distress (F=527.78, P=0.001) after the intervention sessions.  Conclusions: “Positive Psychotherapy” was effective in increasing self-esteem and decreasing self-criticism, perception of suffering and psychological distress in infertile women. It is recommended that this method be used as a complementary treatment along with other medical treatments.