International Journal of Applied Behavioral Sciences

Introduction: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of group dialectical behavior therapy on emotional regulation and rumination among female students with traumatic experiences. The traumatic experiences among teenagers and young females have various negative impacts on their future life.
Methods: With reference to the Counseling Center of Education Ministry of Mashhad City. 24 female students with traumatic symptoms were selected in this quasi-experimental study to participate in this study. They were assigned randomly into control and experimental groups using the traumatic events questionnaire and the Structured Clinical Interview (SCID). In the pre-test, post-test and two-month follow-up, the difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale of Gratz and Roemer (DERS) was conducted. The experimental participants spent 14 sessions of group dialectical behavior therapy.
Results: The results demonstrated that there were a significant difference between mean scores of emotional regulation difficulties in girls with traumatic experiences who received group dialectical behavior therapy and the mean scores of emotional regulation difficulties in girls with traumatic experiences who did not receive the intervention (P<0.05).
Conclusion: With the impact of dialectical behavior group therapy on the cognitive and emotional aspects of female participants with traumatic experiences, students were able to increase their emotional regulation and manage rumination.
Declaration of Interest: None
Key words: Dialectical behavior therapy, Rumination, Emotion regulation, Traumatic experiences.

Introduction: Self-deception and other-deception can be understood as lying to themselves and others. This research aimed to evaluate the efficacy of cognitive-behavioral intervention on improving self-deception and other-deception in women with irrational beliefs.
Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted with two groups of experimental and control and by implementation of pre- and post-test, and using sample of 30 participants (15 in experimental group and 15 in control group). The sampling method was convenient method among volunteer women eligible to inclusion-exclusion criteria of research object. Measuring tools were Self-deception and other-deception and irrational beliefs questionnaires. Data were analyzed using MANOVA test.
Results: Cognitive-behavioral intervention reduced self-deception, other-deception, and irrational beliefs in the experimental group compared with the control group (P<0.05).
Conclusion: According to this results study, cognitive-behavioral therapy can be an efficient intervention for the correction of irrational beliefs, self-deception and other-deception.
Declaration of Interest: None
Key words: Cognitive-behavioral intervention, Irrational beliefs, Self-deception, Other-deception.

Introduction: According to previous findings, visual scanning approaches may play a main role in cognitive styles, which is also important in learning processes. This study aimed at comparing field dependent (FD) and field independent (FI) groups in their visual scanning indicators during performance on a set of stimuli.
Methods: 68 undergraduate students of Shahid Beheshti University participated in this study through purposive sampling method. Participants were assigned into FD and FI groups through the scores of Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT). Participants’ eye movements, including fixation details, were tracked by a binocular remote eye-tracking system (SMI-RED120Hz) during their performance on the GEFT.
Results: Mixed MANCOVA analyzing was used in this study. Comparing to FD group, FI group fixated their eyes more on the stimuli in shorter time. Revisits were less in FI group and they had longer fixations. Moreover, there were some significant interactive effects among groups and different areas of GEFT.
Conclusions: It seems that FI individuals use some practical strategies in their visual scanning which enables them to succeed in differentiating components of a whole picture. These strategies are related to time management and taking new perspectives from which, they can probe the stimuli in more effective methods.
Declaration of Interest: None

Introduction: Acceptance and commitment and metacognitive therapies are considered as third wave therapies. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and Metacognitive therapy (MCT) on the mind-wandering index in adolescents.
Methods: In a randomized clinical trial, 45 female adolescents in Karaj were estimated using a Cloninger sample volume estimation method and were selected through purposive screening sampling. They were randomly assigned into three groups. Two ACT and MCT were presented to the experimental groups in the form of ten sessions of 1 hour. The data were collected at three time intervals through a demographic checklist, a structured clinical interview and a mind-wandering questionnaire. Analysis of covariance and Bonferroni analysis tests were used.
Results: The primary outcomes showed that both ACT and MCT had a significant effect on the mind-wandering index (p<0.01), although this effectiveness was more favorable in the MCT group (P<0.05). The secondary outcomes also showed the stability of the results in the follow-up stage (p<0.05).
Conclusion: The results of this study suggest the effectiveness of third wave therapies on psychological indices. These findings can be combined with clinical applications in planning new therapeutic and educational perspectives.
Declaration of Interest: None

Introduction: The present study aimed at presenting and testing a model to describe the adaptation
phenomenon among the patients engaged with type 2 diabetes (T2D).
Methods: This is a correlational research design wherein a total of 350 individuals referring to four
special medical centers for diabetes at Tehran (Iran). The research instruments included the
Jackson’s five-factor questionnaire, demographic and social support subscales of diabetes care
profile, cognitive appraisal of diabetes scale, problem areas in diabetes survey, Billings and Moos
coping strategies scale, appraisal of adaptation to diabetes scale, and HbA1C level.
Results: The outputs of the tests on the final model of the research showed that the behavior
activating system, fight, flight and freeze system, global social support, and “Get” social support
impose significant effects on the cognitive appraisal. Moreover, the “Get-Want” and Global Social
support, Fight, Flight and freeze System and the cognitive appraisal affected the adaptive tasks
significantly. The Fight, Flight and freeze System and the adaptive tasks imposed significant effects
on the problem-focused emotional-physical coping. The Problem focused socio-cognitive coping
and the emotional-physical coping affected the initial adaptation significantly. Behavior inhibition
system, all the three components of social support, and Problem focused Socio-cognitive coping
imposed significant effects on the secondary adaptation. And finally, Global social support and
initial adaptation affected the HbA1C significantly. In addition, a number of intermediate effects
were verified.
Conclusion: Upon accessing the model of adaptation to disease for a particular individual, one can
access his/her adaptation profile and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of his/her adaptation
structure and formulate the required interventions accordingly.

Introduction: High blood pressure is one of the chronic medical conditions in the general population. The aim of this study was to investigate the mediating role of cognitive emotion regulation strategies in the relationship between mindfulness and perceived stress in patients with high blood pressure.Methods: A total of 216 high blood pressure patients who referred to medical centers in Tehran in 2018 were selected by available sampling method and participated in this study. Participants in the study completed The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ), and The Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ). For data analysis, Pearson correlation and path analysis were used. AMOS 22.0 was used to examine the fitness of the proposed model and path analysis.Results: The results of this study showed that there is a significant negative correlation between the adaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and mindfulness with perceived stress and positive correlation between the maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies with perceived stress (P <0.01). The results of path analysis indicated that the indirect effect of mindfulness on perceived stress was statistically significant through adaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies (0.09) and maladaptive cognitive-emotional regulation strategies (0.11), respectively (p <0.01).Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded that the variables of mindfulness and adaptive cognitive-emotion regulation strategies contribute to the reduction of stress in people with hypertension, which in turn leads to prevention and control of blood pressure. It is necessary to consider these factors in health-related interventions related to blood pressure control.