Maladaptive Schemas and Affective Control in Students with Learning Disability: Benefits of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy

Objectives: this study intended to examine the effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy on moderating maladaptive schemas and affective control in students suffering from learning disabilities. methods: this experimental research was conducted using pretest-posttest and a control group. the population included all the female students who were studying in the koohdasht's middle schools (academic year: 2012-2013). the sample included 40 female students suffering from learning disabilities who had been randomly selected out of koohdasht's middle school students after identification and a structured clinical interview and they were put into experimental and control groups (20 students each group). for data collection, affective control scale and young schema questionnaire were used. results: the results of multivariate covariance analysis showed that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy has significantly decreased maladaptive schemas, depression, anxiety, and anger in subjects (p<0.001). discussion: this finding represents important implications regarding education and mental health improvement in exceptional students. therefore, it is recommended to use this therapeutic package in schools and clinics as a supplement to other therapies in order to decrease negative emotions and to prevent formation of maladaptive schemas in these students.