The Effectiveness of Schema Therapy on Improving Marital Satisfaction and Sexual Schemas of Overweight Women

Marital satisfaction in couples depends on sexual satisfaction and better understanding of each other's needs. Physical changes such as overweight and obesity can negatively affect people's perception of their body and appearance and endanger their marital satisfaction. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of determining the effectiveness of schema therapy on marital satisfaction and sexual schemas in overweight women.

The current research method is semi-experimental and a pre-post-test design with two experimental and control groups was used to collect data. The statistical population of the study was made up of all women suffering from weight gain in Tehran city living in region 1 in 2023. 30 people were selected by convenience and voluntary sampling and then, randomly divided into two experimental (15 people) and control groups. (15 people) were appointed. The experimental group received schema therapy intervention during 12 sessions of 90 minutes. The measurements used in this research included marital satisfaction (Fowers & Olson, 1993), sexual schema (Andersen and Cyranowski, 1994). The data was analyzed through spss-v24 software with ANCOVA method.

The findings showed that schema therapy intervention significantly improved marital satisfaction and sexual schemas (P<0.05).

A deeper understanding of childhood schemas, as discussed in the schema therapy intervention, can help to understand the dysfunctional personality traits that interfere with the treatment of overweight individuals. Also, by knowing the schemas, clients can achieve adaptive and compatible coping methods in married life.