Comparing the effects of Dialectical behavior therapy and Reality therapy on Affective Control of Mothers of Children with Intellectual Disability

The present study aims to compare the effectiveness of dialectical behavioral therapy and reality therapy on affective control in mothers of mentally disabled (educatable) children. To fulfill this purpose, out of all mothers of mentally disabled children whose children were studying at the exceptional primary school of district 4 of Tehran during the academic year of 2019-2020, 45 subjects were selected using the convenience method as the research sample and were randomly divided into three groups (a control group and two experimental groups). Then, the subjects of the first and second experimental groups received dialectical behavior therapy and reality therapy in 8 sessions, respectively. The effective control Scale (Williams, Chambless & Ahrens 1997) was used as a research tool in three stages: before and after education and a three-month follow-up for all three groups (2 experimental groups and a control group). In the end, the findings of the mixed analysis of variance test showed that both of the implemented therapeutic approaches have led to an improvement in the effective control of mothers and the impact of both approaches has been significant and consistent over time (P≤0.01). In addition, the results of the Bonferroni test have shown that dialectical behavioral therapy has been more impactful on affective control than reality therapy. According to the findings of the present study, in the field of treatment and counseling of mothers of children with disabilities, dialectical behavior therapy, and reality therapy seems to be very effective and promising.