Maladaptive Schemas and Affective Control in Students with Learning Disability: Benefits of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy

Objectives: This study intended to examine the effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy on moderating maladaptive schemas and affective control in students suffering from learning disabilities. Methods: This experimental research was conducted using pretest-posttest and a control group. The population included all the female students who were studying in the Koohdasht s middle schools (academic year: 2012-2013). The sample included 40 female students suffering from learning disabilities who had been randomly selected out of Koohdasht s middle school students after identification and a structured clinical interview and they were put into experimental and control groups (20 students each group). For data collection, Affective Control Scale and Young Schema Questionnaire were used. Results: The results of multivariate covariance analysis showed that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy has significantly decreased maladaptive schemas, depression, anxiety, and anger in subjects (p 0.001). Discussion: This finding represents important implications regarding education and mental health improvement in exceptional students. Therefore, it is recommended to use this therapeutic package in schools and clinics as a supplement to other therapies in order to decrease negative emotions and to prevent formation of maladaptive schemas in these students.