Comparison of the Effectiveness of Intensive Short-Term Psychodynamic Therapy and Emotion-Focused Therapy on Pain Catastrophizing in Patients with Psychosomatic Disorders
Keywords:
Psychosomatic Disorders, Pain Catastrophizing, Emotion-Focused Therapy, Intensive Short-Term Psychodynamic Therapy.Abstract
The present study aimed to compare the effectiveness of Intensive Short-Term Psychodynamic Therapy and Emotion-Focused Therapy on reducing pain catastrophizing among patients diagnosed with psychosomatic disorders. This applied study employed a quasi-experimental design with a pretest–posttest control group and a three-month follow-up phase. The statistical population consisted of patients with psychosomatic disorders who referred to Niyayesh Psychiatric Hospital in Tehran during 2024–2025. Using purposive sampling, 45 eligible participants were selected and randomly assigned to three groups: Intensive Short-Term Psychodynamic Therapy, Emotion-Focused Therapy, and a control group (15 participants in each group). The experimental groups received structured therapeutic interventions across multiple weekly sessions, while the control group remained on a waiting list without intervention. Data were collected using standardized psychological instruments measuring psychosomatic symptoms and pain catastrophizing at pretest, posttest, and follow-up stages. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS-28 through descriptive statistics, analysis of covariance, mixed-design repeated measures analysis of variance, multivariate analysis of variance, and Bonferroni post hoc tests after confirming statistical assumptions. Analysis of covariance indicated that Emotion-Focused Therapy significantly reduced pain catastrophizing compared with the control group (p < 0.01), whereas Intensive Short-Term Psychodynamic Therapy did not demonstrate a statistically significant effect. Repeated-measures analysis revealed a significant main effect of time (p < 0.01) and a significant interaction effect between time and group (p < 0.05), indicating differential changes across interventions over measurement stages. Bonferroni post hoc comparisons showed that the Emotion-Focused Therapy group achieved significantly lower adjusted posttest scores than the control group (p < 0.05). Pairwise comparisons across time demonstrated significant reductions from pretest to posttest and follow-up only in the Emotion-Focused Therapy group, confirming maintenance of treatment effects, while no significant changes were observed in the psychodynamic or control groups.
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