Aims: The emotional schema model emphasizes on evaluation and interpretation of emotions and emotion regulation strategies. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of Emotional Schema Therapy (EST) on decrease of Post-event rumination and cognitive avoidance in people with clinical symptoms of social anxiety.
Materials & Methods: This is a semi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest control group. For this purpose, 32 students with clinical symptoms of social anxiety were screened with the cut-off point of the Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN) and clinical interviews and were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The Post Event Processing Questionnaire (PEPQ) and Cognitive Avoidance Questionnaire (CAQ) were used to collect data in two conditions (pretest and posttest). Experimental group experienced 10 weeks of emotional schema therapy, while the control group received no treatment. Data were analyzed using SPSS software (ver 23) and Multivariate Analysis Of Covariance (MANCOVA).
Findings: The average of post-event rumination and cognitive avoidance were reduced in the experimental group in posttest. After controlling the effect of pre-test scores, there were significant differences between the test and control groups in terms of all variables (p<0.001).
Conclusion: Emotional Schema Therapy due to the emphasis on the role of the individual beliefs and strategies about emotions can be used as an effective intervention in order to reduce symptoms of social anxiety, for example the Post-event rumination and cognitive avoidance in the people with clinical symptoms of social anxiety.