Abstract
Background & Objectives: In the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, obsessive–compulsive disorder was separated from the class of anxiety disorders and put in the obsessive–compulsive disorder class and related disorders. Typical behaviors in obsessive–compulsive individuals lead to decreased social relationships and marital discord. Given the prevalence of obsessive–compulsive disorder and deficiencies in many therapeutic approaches, among the third–wave therapies, mindfulness–based cognitive therapy training seems to be one of the most effective therapies, with an emphasis on increasing attention. So, the present study aimed to determine the effectiveness of mindfulness–based cognitive therapy training on obsessive–compulsive and marital adjustment in obsessive–compulsive women.
Methods: The present study was quasi–experimental with a pretest–posttest design with a control group. The study population consisted of all women with obsessive–compulsive disorder living in District 10 of Tehran City, Iran, during the 2018 Spring. The women were selected by convenience sampling method. The inclusion criteria were as follows: being a married woman suffering from obsessive–compulsive disorder after an interview by a psychiatrist or clinical psychologist based on the criteria of the American Psychiatric Association and obtaining a score greater than 15 based on the Maudsley Obsessive–Compulsive Questionnaire (1977), not using a medication, being 25–45 years old, and having at least a diploma (12^th–grade graduate). The exclusion criteria were non–cooperation and absence in training sessions. The subjects of the experimental group participated in eight 90–minute sessions twice a week. The content of the training sessions was taken from the mindfulness training intervention based on Van Son et al. (2014). Research data were collected using Maudsley Obsessive–Compulsive Inventory (Hodgson & Rachman, 1977) and Dyadic Adjustment Scale (Spanier, 1987). Univariate analysis of covariance was used for data analysis by SPSS₂₄ software at a significance level of 0.05.
Results: By removing the effect of pretest scores, a significant difference was observed between the adjusted mean scores of obsessive–compulsive disorder (p>0.001) and marital adjustment (p>0.001) of the participants according to the group (experiment and control). Therefore, the effective rate in the obsessive–practical variable was 0.434, and in the marital adjustment variable was 0.638.
Conclusion: According to the results of this study, mindfulness–based therapies based on cognitive therapy can be effective in decreasing obsessive–compulsive disorder and enhancing marital adjustment in women with obsessive–compulsive disorder.