a comparison of the effectiveness of transcranial direct current stimulation and hypnotherapy on rumination, self-compassion, and quality of life in divorced women

Background: the emotional challenges faced by divorced women can significantly affect their mental well-being. this study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of transcranial direct current stimulation (tdcs) and hypnotherapy on rumination, selfcompassion, and quality of life in divorced women.method: this quasi-experimental study used a pre-test, post-test, and control group design. the statistical population consisted of divorced women visiting counseling centers in ardabil, iran in 2024. a total of 45 divorced women were selected through convenience sampling. the study participants were randomly assigned to three groups, each consisting of 15 individuals: tdcs, hypnotherapy, and control groups. each intervention group underwent eight weekly individual sessions. data collection included the ruminative responses scale (rrs), self-compassion scale (scs), and the short form health survey (sf-36). data were analyzed using analysis of covariance (ancova) and tukey’s post hoc test at a significance level of 0.05 using spss version 27.results: after controlling the pre-test effects and ensuring that demographic characteristics were homogeneous and non-significant, the post-test scores for rumination, self-compassion, and quality of life in the tdcs group were 53.67±7.65, 65.27±11.07, and 52.80±9.53, respectively. in the hypnotherapy group, these scores were 44.93±3.92, 75.47±9.16, and 58.73±9.51, respectively. the control group had post-test scores of 61.73±5.87, 54.40±10.40, and 39.40±10.89. tukey’s post hoc test confirmed that both tdcs and hypnotherapy significantly affected the dependent variables (p<0.001), with hypnotherapy having a greater impact than tdcs.conclusions: the findings showed that although both tdcs and hypnotherapy interventions had significant effects on all three dependent variables, the hypnotherapy intervention demonstrated a more substantial and meaningful positive effect compared with transcranial direct current stimulation.