Document Type : Research/Original/Regular

Authors

• Mina Rajabi ¹
• Hosein mohagheghi ²
• Mohammad Reza Zoghi Paydar ¹
• Rasoul Kord noghabii ¹

¹ Department of Psychology, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, Bu Ali Sina University, Hamadan, Iran.

² Associate Professor of Psychology, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran.

Abstract

The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of narrative therapy on anxiety thoughts of divorced mothers in Behbahan. This research was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest and posttest design with a control group. The study population was all divorced mothers in Behbahan; 44 of them announced their readiness to participate in the research; Which were selected as a sample and randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. After performing the pretest, the protocol of eight sessions of narrative therapy was performed. The AnTI Wells Anxiety Thought Questionnaire (1994) was then administered. Statistical analysis of covariance showed that the protocol of narrative therapy, anxiety thoughts: (p <0.01, F = 34.04), social anxiety: (p <0.01, F = 34.00), physical anxiety: (p <0.05 , F = 7.16), meta-worry: (p <0.01, F = 14.15) has reduced divorced mothers. Therefore, narrative therapy had an effect on the anxious thoughts of divorced mothers and this treatment method can be applied to divorced mothers to reduce anxious thoughts, increase mental health and reduce the psychological damage of life after divorce and being a single parent.

Highlights

Background and Purpose

The Divorce is one of the most significant challenges many societies have to deal with. Psychologists and sociologists believe that divorce is frequently the most painful and harmful event for the families involved (Amato, 2010). The harm caused by the problems before and during the divorce ends up causing emotional and psychological difficulties in divorced mothers, such that depression and anxiety are more prevalent in divorced women than in married women, as indicated by research (Jaafari, 2019). According to Borkovec  & et al. (1997), anxious thoughts are a series of negative and largely uncontrollable thoughts and ideas that cause psychological issues in their sufferers that may result in one or more negative outcomes. Three elements comprise anxious thoughts: social anxiety, meta-worry, and health anxiety (Wells, 1994). Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is a specific or extreme worry or anxiety about social circumstances in which a person fears being evaluated by others (Dijk et al., 2018). Illness anxiety is a mental preoccupation with having or being diagnosed with a severe illness, despite the absence or modest intensity of physical symptoms (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Meta-worry means worrying about worry (Wells, 2000).

Meta-worry makes the worry pervasive and chronic by causing a person to be ambivalent and fluctuate between fusion with worry or avoiding it (Wells, 2009).Divorced women are stigmatized in society and constantly subjected to taunts and inquisitive glances from those around them, threatening their peace and privacy. Therefore, in light of the significant rise in divorce and the harm it causes, psychologists are looking for strategies to enhance the quality of life for divorced individuals and new psychological approaches to boost adaptation and enhance the quality of life for divorced parents and their children. One of these approaches is narrative therapy.

Narrative therapy applies a set of methods to comprehend people's stories, deconstructing and rewriting them with the collaboration of therapists and the person himself (Zasiekina, 2020). Narrative therapists generally move their clients' attention away from unproductive and problem-saturated stories toward desirable stories that lead to better identity and living (Goldenberg & Goldenberg, 2000).

Given the significance of the issue of divorce, its increasing prevalence in our country, and the damage caused by the dissolution of the marital relationship, which is more detrimental to women, particularly those with whom they are head of the household to their children, it seems necessary to address this group of society. According to the preceding, the purpose of this study is to address the question, "Is narrative therapy effective in reducing anxious thoughts among divorced mothers?" by examining the following hypotheses:

• Narrative therapy is effective in reducing anxious thoughts in divorced mothers.
• Narrative therapy is effective in reducing social anxiety in divorced mothers.
• Narrative therapy is effective in reducing physical anxiety in divorced mothers.
• Narrative therapy is effective in reducing the meta-worry in divorced mothers.

Method

The research had a semi-experimental design with a pretest, post-test, and two experimental and control groups. 44 divorced mothers with anxious thoughts from the Neshat Counseling Center in Behbahan were chosen to participate in the study using a purposive sampling method. In the control group, there were 22 participants, and in the experimental participants, there were also 22 participants. The ages of the participants in the two groups ranged from 25 to 48 years, with the experimental group having a mean and standard deviation of 29.73 1.86 years and the control group having a mean and standard deviation of 30.42 4.27 years. In terms of education, 6 participants (27.3%) in the experimental group had an elementary to high school degree, 11 participants (50%) had a high school diploma, 4 participants (18.2%) had a bachelor's degree, and 1 participant (4.5%) had a master's degree. In the control group, 3 participants (13.6%) had an elementary to high school degree, 13 participants (59.1%) had a high school diploma, 5 participants (22.7%) had a bachelor's degree, and 1 participant (4.5%) had a master's degree.

The instrument was the 22 -items Anxious Thoughts Inventory (AnTI) (Wells, 1994), and the implemented intervention was Pyne's (2016) eight-session protocol.

 Results

The study's findings revealed that the pretest effect was statistically significant and that its selection as a covariate variable was appropriate. The group effect is also significant (p-value= .01, F = 34.04), indicating that narrative therapy significantly lowers the anxious thoughts of divorced mothers. Based on these findings, the first primary hypothesis of the study is validated, and the effect size was calculated to be 45%.

Table 1. The results of univariate covariance analysis on post-test scores of anxious thoughts by controlling pre-test scores

In addition, ANCOVA results for social anxiety (p-value =.01, F = 34.00) indicate that the effect of narrative therapy on the social anxiety of divorced mothers is significant and reduces its level. According to the Eta Squared, this effect's size is 46%; Findings on physical anxiety (p-value =.05, F = 7.16) indicate that narrative therapy significantly reduces the degree of physical anxiety among divorced mothers.

  Table 2. The results of covariance analysis on the post-test scores of social anxiety, physical anxiety and meta-anxiety by controlling the pre-test scores.

 The Eta Squared value for this effect is 15%; In addition, regarding meta-worry (p-value =.01, F = 14.15), the findings indicate that narrative therapy significantly reduces the level of meta-worry among divorced mothers. The Eta Squared value for this effect is 26%.

Discussion and Conclusion

The results demonstrated that narrative therapy has an effect on divorced mothers' anxious thinking. Therefore, it can be concluded that rewriting and revising the life story so that it is unique to the individual and aligns with their capabilities, skills, and competencies is an effective method for reducing anxious thoughts.

Divorced women are likewise highly concerned with the judgments of others and society. This dilemma compels them to recount their life story based on what their family, friends, and community have instilled in them. Narrative therapy employing the deconstruction technique explores the background or context that molded the problem and the idea or belief that caused the problem to remain. It offers questions that encourage individuals to examine the influence of the situation on them.

Participants discover that their dominant life story is a story that needs to be changed and that there are unique results in their story to which they had not previously paid attention. This is because they view their story as full of problems, and when defining their life story, they only focus on its many problems. This problem-saturated story does not allow one's thinking to go towards unique, remarkable and worthy results, events and moments, the results that show his worth (Morgan, 2000 ; Barati, 2017). Similarly, the anticipation of an uncertain and dismal future emerges in divorced women as being worried about the future of their children and a sense of powerlessness to intervene in this situation, which is associated with anxiety and the emergence of anxious thoughts in daily life. By emphasizing positive experiences and moments in which a person has successfully confronted life challenges, narrative therapy allows them to feel more in control of their life story. This sense of control increases self-esteem and the feeling of being effective and productive, as well as a more optimistic outlook on their future (Legrand, 2011). It reduces the anxiety thoughts resulting from this narrative of lack of control.

This study's findings are consistent with those of Cloitre& et al. (2017) and Greger (2021) about the efficacy of group narrative therapy in reducing anxiety in individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) resulting from childhood sexual abuse. In addition, the results of Moshaveri & Latifi's (2019) research on the effect of narrative therapy on enhancing generalized anxiety and stress-related coping skills in spouses of drug addicts receiving treatment at addiction treatment clinics are consistent with the current research and demonstrate the effect of narrative therapy on reducing anxiety.

Keywords

• anxiety thoughts
• narrative therapy
• divorced mothers

20.1001.1.23452692.1402.11.3.7.7

Main Subjects

• divorce