A Comparison of the Effectiveness of Mindful Self-Acceptance Therapy and Positive Psychotherapy on Psychological Capital of Female Students with Depression

Depression is one of the disorders that can cause serious problems for teenage girls. This study aims to determine the effectiveness of mindful self-acceptance therapy and positive psychotherapy on the psychological capital of female students with depression.

This study was semi-experimental with a pretest-posttest control design. The research sample was 54 female students with depression at high school (second-grade) in Esfahan in 2019. They were randomly assigned to three groups of mindful self-acceptance therapy, positive psychotherapy, and control group. The measurement instrument was the psychological Capital Questionnaire of Nguyen & colleagues. The experimental groups received 10 sessions of mindful self-acceptance therapy and positive psychotherapy. The data were analyzed by univariate and multivariate covariance.

The results showed a significant difference between mindful self-acceptance therapy and positive psychotherapy with the control group in psychological capital (F=25.049, p<0.001) and two components, hope (F=5/012, p<0.001) and resiliency (F= 4.867, p<0.001). Also, a significant difference was between mindful self-acceptance therapy and positive psychotherapy in psychological capital and their components (p<0.001).

Mindful self-acceptance therapy and positive psychotherapy effectively increase psychological capital in female students with depression. Thus, training them can promote positive strengths to cope with depression.