impact of emotionally focused therapy on emotional distress in infertile couples

The present study investigated the effect of emotionally focused therapy [EFT] on factors contributing to emotional distress among infertile couples. In this semi-experimental study, the subjects consisted of 12 Iranian couples: six infertile men and six infertile women. They were assessed as depressed, anxious and stressful individuals using depression, anxiety and stress scale [DASS]. The subjects were randomly divided into control and experimental groups. The experimental group with six couples [i. e. three infertile men and three infertile women] received EFT, while the control group with similar number of couples [i. e. three infertile men and three infertile women] was deprived of the treatment. There were no significant differences between the two groups regarding job, educational level, income, age, marriage and infertility duration. The pre- and post-test comparisons of DASS subscales showed that level of depression, anxiety and stress among couples with EFT instruction was significantly less than those without such instructions [p<0.0001]. Emotionally focused therapy could reduce the rate of depression, anxiety and stress in infertile couples, regardless of the man or woman as the cause of infertility

Resiliency and religious orientation: factors contributing to posttraumatic growth in Iranian subjects

This study investigated the relationship between resilience and religious orientation [internal and external] with posttraumatic growth [PTG]. This study also examined the impact of marriage and sex variables on growth. Participants were selected based on prescreening of a larger group of students enrolled in the University of Shiraz. Participants were recruited in two stages. Three hundred fifty students were randomly selected in the first stage, and those students who experienced a minimum of one traumatic event within the last five years were selected in the second stage. They completed the Traumatic Life Event Questionnaire [TLEQ], the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory - Iranian version [PTGI-I], and the Religious Orientation Scale [ROS]. According to stepwise regression analysis, two subscales of resiliency, novelty seeking and positive future orientation, and a subscale of religious orientation, intrinsic orientation, were related to PTG. In addition, compared to singles, the married subjects experienced greater degree of growth. Personal extrinsic orientation and emotional regulation factor of resilience had a positive and meaningful relationship with PTG, although they were omitted from the regression analysis model. Sex and Socio-Extrinsic religious orientation were not related to PTG. Some subscales of resiliency and religious orientation could predict posttraumatic growth in Iranian subjects, but there were no gender differences. The intrinsic orientation had the greatest significance in predicting posttraumatic growth. The personal extrinsic orientation had a significant positive correlation with post-traumatic growth, no significant correlation was observed between social extrinsic orientation and post-traumatic growth. The openness to experience was an important feature for proper growth of people facing a trauma. Optimistic subjects showed more flexibility in their coping strategies, and therefore had a tendency to adapt themselves to problematic situations

utility of the Wisconsin card sorting test in differential diagnosis of cognitive disorders in Iranian psychiatric patients and healthy subjects

The Wisconsin Test Card Sorting Test [WCST] is a neuropsychological test that has been suggested as a more specific test for frontal lobes dysfunctions. This study was designed to determine whether WCST is able to differentiate between Iranian psychiatric patients with cognitive disorders and normal subjects, and whether WCST scores are related to severity of symptoms in depressive and schizophrenic patients. Participants were four groups: schizophrenics with positive symptoms [n=25]; schizophrenics with negative symptoms [n=25]; major depressives [n=25]; and normal subjects [n=25]. All subjects were tested individually using WCST. To analyze the data, various descriptive statistics, ANOVA, t-test and multiple regression analysis were used. Regarding the number of categories [P<0.001] and the rate of perseverative errors [P<0.01], according to the results, the normal subjects performed significantly better than patient groups on WCST, although the differences between patient groups were not significant. Our results also showed that greater positive or depressive symptoms were not associated with poorer scores on WCST performance. Only the level of severity of negative symptoms predicted scores on perseverative errors. It is concluded that WCST can differentiate Iranian psychiatric patients with cognitive disorders from normal subjects, but it is not able to clearly differentiate schizophrenic patients with negative symptoms from those with positive symptoms and depressives. Only severity of negative symptoms affects WCST performance

Responsibility attitudes in obsessive-compulsive patients: the contributions of meta-cognitive beliefs and worry

Obsessive patients are distressed by intrusive thoughts, which are related to unreal threats. These patients feel that they are responsible for harming themselves and others. While controlling worry and meta-cognitive beliefs, the present study aimed at comparing the responsibility attitudes in obsessive compulsive patients with those in normal subjects to determine whether the difference in responsibility attitudes between two groups was significant. A group of 15 patients were compared with normal subjects [n=15] who matched the patient group in terms of gender, age and education. All subjects filled the Responsibility Attitude Scale, the Penn, State Worry Questionnaire and the Meta-cognition Questionnaire -30. The findings were analyzed using descriptive statistics as well as student t and AN-COVA tests. Responsibility attitudes in obsessive patients were significantly higher than those in normal subjects [P<0.001], when patient worries and meta-cognitive beliefs were not controlled. However, after controlling patient's worry and meta-cognitive beliefs there was no significant difference between responsibility attitudes in normal and obsessive-compulsive group. The findings might suggest that responsibility attitude is not strongly related to obsessive-compulsive symptoms. It seems that it is a characteristic caused by basic meta-cognitive beliefs, because the relationship between the responsibility and the symptoms was dependent on meta-cognition. Therefore, in studying the etiology and treatment of obsessive compulsive disorders focus on the responsibility attitudes alone cannot be very helpful