Effect of cognitive-behavioral group therapy on the hopeless and loneliness among divorced women

Divorce based on legal separation from life partner can have serious effects on mental health.the effects of this separation are more severe in women than men. the aim of this research was to determine the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral group therapy on the hopelessness and loneliness in divorced women. the participants of this study consist of 20 divorced women supported by welfare office who had hopeless and loneliness symptoms. inclusion criteria in this study weremother deprival of child guardianship,not receiving psychological treatment, the lack of physical disease, minimum diploma in education and maximum bachelor of education, the separation time (1 to 2 years). but exclusion criteria were temporary marriage,marriage during performance, the risk of physical illness, having psychotic disorders, drug addiction. they were selected with available sampling method and were randomly assigned into two experimental (n=10) and control (n=10) group and tested by miller’s hopeless questionnaire and russell’s loneliness questionnaire. then, experimental group receive 12 session of cognitive-behavioral therapy techniques and control group not received any treatment. in the end, information from both groups recollected and follow-up tests were performed one month after the intervention. the results of multivariate analysis of covariance showed that the rate of hopefulness in experimental group in compare with control increased and the rate of loneliness decreased. results indicate that cognitive-behavioral group therapy has a significant effect on hopeless and loneliness in divorced women.