Maladaptive schemas, behavioral activation-inhibition systems, and experiential avoidance in patients with chronic somatic symptom disorders and healthy people

BACKGROUND: Somatic symptom disorders have relation with mental health. Hence, this study aimed to compare early maladaptive schemas (EMSs), behavioral activation system/behavioral inhibition system (BAS/BIS), and experiential avoidance in patients with chronic somatic symptom disorders and healthy people.METHODS: This was a casual-comparative study. Of patients with psychosomatic disorders referring to the Palliative Medicine Center and Educational and Medical Center of Shahid Sayyad Shirazi in Gorgan, Iran, 120 eligible patients were selected through convenience sampling, then were compared with 120 normal individuals (without psychosomatic disorders) who had been matched with patient group in terms of age, sex, education, and marital status. Brain Behavioral System Questionnaire (BAS/BIS Questionnaire), Young Schema Questionnaire-Short Form (YSQ-SF), and Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II (AAQ-II) were used. The data were analyzed by multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and SPSS software.RESULTS: Demographic information of patient and healthy groups indicated that in patient group, 36.7% were single and 63.3% were married, 1.7% had elementary education, 10.0% had secondary school education, 45.0% had diploma, and 43.3% had higher education degree. In normal group, 60.0% were single and 40.0% were married, 3.3% had secondary school degree, 51.7% had diploma, and 45.0% had higher education degree. The results indicated a significant difference between EMSs, behavioral systems, and experiential avoidance in patients with somatic symptom disorders and normal people in Iran (P < 0.001).CONCLUSION: Patients with somatic symptom disorders have more active BAS-BIS, high EMSs, and more experimental avoidance than normal people

Sexual Modesty, Self-Compassion, and Attachment Styles to God; A Comparison between Couples Seeking Divorce and Normal Couples

The present study was conducted with the aim of comparing sexual modesty, self-compassion, and attachment styles to God among couples seeking divorce and normal couples in the city of Gorgan. This descriptive study was a causal-comparative research. 120 couples were selected among those seeking divorce by the convenience sampling, and 120 couples among normal couples by the purposive sampling. The respondents answered the questionnaires of sexual modesty (summarized form), self-compassion (short form), and attachment styles to God (summarized form). The multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was applied to analyze the data. The findings indicated that in the test of sexual modesty and attachment styles to God, couples seeking divorce got less scores than normal couples. There was no significant difference between two groups in terms of self-compassion. Based on the results, it is suggested that in the sessions of premarital counseling, couples' sexual modesty and their attachment styles to God be analyzed