Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy on Depression, Anxiety and Resilience of Depressed Female–Headed Households in Tehran

Female–headed households is a woman who is finance of family and a spouse is live but cannot do it. As a result, a woman has been in charge of the family's financial management. Some researches have shown that these women have psychological problems such as depression and anxiety. One of the psychological therapies to prevent return or relapse of depression and anxiety is cognitive therapy based on mind–consciousness. Cognitive techniques can inform and educate the participant(s) about depression, anxiety and resilience. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive–therapeutic based on conscious mind on depression, anxiety and resiliency of female–headed households in Tehran.

The design of this quasi experimental study was a pretest–posttest with a control group. The statistical population consisted of all female–headed households referred to the Imam Khomeini relief committee of district 1 in Tehran (capital city of Iran). Among them, 40 women were selected using convenience sampling. Subjects were randomly assigned into experimental and control groups after pre–test. The intervention was conducted in 8 sessions for the control group and resiliency questionnaire was used to measure the power of coping with pressure and threat (Caner and Davidson (2003)). The Beck depression inventory was used to measure depression. The Beck anxiety inventory (1990) with 21 questions was used to measure severity of anxiety. Data analyzed with descriptive (mean and standard deviation) and inferential (analyze the covariance) statistics.

Covariance analysis showed that level of anxiety (F=587.5, p=0.022) and depression (F=125.4 and p=0.028) of female headed–households, respectively, decreased significantly in interventional cognitive therapy based on mind–awareness. This intervention did not have a significant effect on the resiliency.

Based on the results of this study, therapists can use cognitive therapy based on mind–awareness to reduce anxiety and depression.