The effectiveness of family therapy based on bowen's emotional treatment on developmental functions of family and maladaptive emotional schemes among women with major depressive disorder

Depression in women can negatively affect their mental and physical health and offspring. The purpose of the present study was to examine the effectiveness of family therapy based on Bowen's emotional treatment on developmental functions of family and reducing maladaptive emotional schemes among women with major depressive disorder. The research method was quasi experimental with pretest-posttest and follow-up with control group design. From all the women with major depressive disorder who referred to Tehran psychiatric hospitals, 40 women with major depressive disorder that were under medical treatment, selected and were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups (20 each). The experimental group received Bowen's emotional Family therapy and the control group did not receive any intervention. Both groups completed the Emotional Schemes Scale (ESS) and Developmental Family Functioning Assessment scale (DFFAQ) in three stages of pre-test, post-test and follow-up. Findings showed a significant difference between the performance of both experimental and control groups in the scores of developmental functions of family and emotional schemes in post-test and follow up stages. Based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded that family therapy based on Bowen's emotional treatment is effective in improving developmental functions of family and reducing maladaptive emotional schemes among women with major depressive disorder.