the effectiveness of group schema therapy on adjusting the early maladaptive schemas of the drug-dependentwomen

Introduction: drug addiction treatment may be associated with more challenges and problems in women compared with men. objectives: the present research aimed at determining the impact of group schema therapy on adjusting the early maladaptive schemas in drug-dependent women. materials and methods: the present research was an experimental study with a pretest-posttest design and a control group. the statistical population included all of the women with substance abuse disorder who referred to the addiction recovery centers in rasht from november to december 2019. using a randomized sampling, 60 individuals were selected and assigned into the experimental and control groups (n=30 for each group) and completed the young schema questionnaire - short form version 3 (ysq-s3). the experimental group was subjected to the schema therapy, whereas the control group did not receive any intervention. the data were analyzed using a one-way analysis of covariance (ancova) and multivariate analysis of covariance (mancova) by spss v. 22 software. results: the results showed that group schema therapy decreased early maladaptive schemas, including disconnection and rejection (p<0.01), self-control and impaired performance (p<0.01), impaired limits (p<0.003), and over vigilance and inhibition (p<0.001). conclusion: based on the results, schema therapy reduced the dimensions of early maladaptive schemas, such as disconnection and rejection, self-control and impaired performance, impaired limits, and over vigilance and inhibition in drug-dependent women, however it did not decrease the other-directness dimension.