Comparing the Effectiveness of Metacognitive Therapy and Emotion Regulation Skills on Fashion Orientation, Irrational Beliefs and Thought-Action Fusion in Women Applying for Cosmetic Surgery

The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of metacognitive therapy and emotion regulation skills on fashion orientation, irrational beliefs and thought-action fusion in women applying for cosmetic surgery. The present study was a semi-experimental design with a multi-group pre-test-post-test design with a control group. 30 women referring to Nika beauty clinic in Shahrood city were selected as available and randomly assigned to three groups of 10 people. The experimental groups each participated in 8 therapy sessions, one 60-minute session per week, but the control group did not receive any intervention until the end of the study. The research tool included a questionnaire of fashion orientation, irrational beliefs and thought-action fusion. Data were analyzed by multivariate analysis of covariance and Tukey's post hoc method. The results showed that metacognitive therapy and emotion regulation skills were significantly effective in reducing fashion trends, irrational beliefs, and thought-action fusion compared to the control group (P<0.05). The results of Tukey's test showed that the average of the metacognitive therapy group was more effective in the research variables than the emotion regulation training group in the post-test and showed a significant difference (P<0.05). The findings of this research have shown the effectiveness of these two interventions in reducing the trend towards fashion, irrational beliefs and thought-action fusion. Therefore, therapists can use these two therapeutic and educational approaches, especially metacognitive therapy, which is one of the third wave therapies.