The Effectiveness of Compassion-Based Therapy on Distress Tolerance and Relationship Beliefs of Women with Substance-Dependent Spouses

The current study aimed to determine the effectiveness of compassion-based therapy on distress tolerance and relationship beliefs of women with substance-dependent spouses.

The research method was semi-experimental with a pretest-posttest design with a control group. The statistical population of the research included all women with substance-dependent spouses referring to addiction treatment centers in Dezful city in 2021. Among them, 30 people were selected by the convenient sampling method and were randomly divided into two experimental (N=15) and control (N=15) groups. The participants of both groups completed the distress tolerance and relationship beliefs questionnaires in the pretest and posttest. Compassion-based therapy was administered according to the protocol of Paul Gilbert and Russell Colts (translated by Esbati, 2017) on the experimental group in eight 90-minute sessions with a frequency of two sessions per week. Data were analyzed by multivariate analysis of covariance.

The results of multivariate covariance analysis showed that there was a significant difference between the two groups, and compassion therapy increased distress tolerance and improved relationship beliefs of women with substance-dependent spouses.

According to the obtained results, experts in the field of addiction can enhance capabilities related to distress tolerance and relationship beliefs by using compassion therapy method.