Comparison of the efficacy of acceptance and commitment based therapy (ACT) and schema therapy on forgiveness in women after infidelity

Research evidence suggests that marital infidelity can have irreparable consequences for couples, however, the role of forgiveness as a key variable can neutralize this to some extent. Therefore, dealing with effective treatments for women's forgiveness after their husband's betrayal has been neglected.

The aim of the present study was to compare the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment based treatment and treatment schemas on forgiveness in women affected by infidelity.

The present study was applied and quasi-experimental with pre-test-post-test design and two-month follow-up with the control group. The statistical population of the study included all women affected by infidelity who lived in Tehran in 1401-1400 and referred to counseling centers. The sample consisted of 60 betrayed women who were selected by available sampling method and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. They all completed the Heartland Forgiveness Questionnaire in three stages: pretest, posttest, and two-month follow-up, and the experimental groups received schema therapy interventions and acceptance and commitment-based therapy. After data collection, the data were analyzed using mixed variance analysis by SPSSV19 software.

The results showed that there was a significant difference in the variable of forgiveness and all its components between the groups of schema therapy and treatment based on acceptance and commitment with the control group (P<0.05) and therapeutic interventions promoted forgiveness. However, there was no significant difference between the two groups of schema therapy and acceptance and commitment based therapy (P>0.05).

Therefore, it can be said that schema therapy and treatment methods based on acceptance and commitment to forgiveness were effective in women after infidelity, and therefore the knowledge of psychologists, counseling and health experts about these treatments is helpful to promote forgiveness of betrayed women.