Integrated Emotional Schema Therapy and the Unified Protocol for Executive Functioning Difficulties and Cognitive Emotion Regulation in Generalized Anxiety Disorder
- 1Department of Psychology and Education,Faculty of Humanities, Khatam University, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract
Objective: This study examined changes in self-reported executive functioning difficulties and cognitive emotion regulation following integrated Emotional Schema Therapy (EST) and the Unified Protocol (UP) among adults with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).
Methods and Materials: A controlled pretest–posttest study with one-month follow-up was conducted among 32 adults with GAD recruited from a psychiatric treatment center in Tehran, Iran, in 2023. Participants were reportedly randomly allocated to integrated EST–UP (n = 16) or control (n = 16). The intervention comprised ten individual 60-minute sessions over 12 weeks. Outcomes were assessed using the Adult Executive Functioning Inventory and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire–Short Form. Descriptive statistics and repeated-measures ANOVA were reported.
Findings: Executive difficulty scores decreased from 40.00 ± 1.63 to 31.50 ± 1.75 in the intervention group, compared with 39.25 ± 1.91 to 38.94 ± 2.17 in controls. Maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation decreased from 24.50 ± 2.15 to 14.88 ± 1.93, while adaptive regulation increased from 18.94 ± 1.69 to 31.75 ± 3.53. Corresponding control-group changes were minimal. At one-month follow-up, intervention-group scores were 31.81 ± 2.40, 15.38 ± 1.86, and 31.31 ± 3.20, respectively. Reported inferential inconsistencies prevented reliable confirmation of statistical significance.
Conclusion: Integrated EST–UP was associated with favorable descriptive changes in executive difficulties and cognitive emotion regulation. Verified statistical analyses are required to establish comparative effectiveness.
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BibTeX
@article{khajooei2026integrated,
title = {{Integrated Emotional Schema Therapy and the Unified Protocol for Executive Functioning Difficulties and Cognitive Emotion Regulation in Generalized Anxiety Disorder}},
author = {Mahsa Khajooei and Marzie Hashemi},
journal = {International Journal of Body, Mind and Culture},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.61838/ijbmc.v13i11.1323},
url = {https://doi.org/10.61838/ijbmc.v13i11.1323},
note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Integrated Emotional Schema Therapy and the Unified Protocol for Executive Functioning Difficulties and Cognitive Emotion Regulation in Generalized Anxiety Disorder
AU - Mahsa Khajooei
AU - Marzie Hashemi
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/01
JO - International Journal of Body, Mind and Culture
DO - 10.61838/ijbmc.v13i11.1323
UR - https://doi.org/10.61838/ijbmc.v13i11.1323
AB - Objective: This study examined changes in self-reported executive functioning difficulties and cognitive emotion regulation following integrated Emotional Schema Therapy (EST) and the Unified Protocol (UP) among adults with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Methods and Materials: A controlled pretest–posttest study with one-month follow-up was conducted among 32 adults with GAD recruited from a psychiatric treatment center in Tehran, Iran, in 2023. Participants were reportedly randomly allocated to integrated EST–UP (n = 16) or control (n = 16). The intervention comprised ten individual 60-minute sessions over 12 weeks. Outcomes were assessed using the Adult Executive Functioning Inventory and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire–Short Form. Descriptive statistics and repeated-measures ANOVA were reported. Findings: Executive difficulty scores decreased from 40.00 ± 1.63 to 31.50 ± 1.75 in the intervention group, compared with 39.25 ± 1.91 to 38.94 ± 2.17 in controls. Maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation decreased from 24.50 ± 2.15 to 14.88 ± 1.93, while adaptive regulation increased from 18.94 ± 1.69 to 31.75 ± 3.53. Corresponding control-group changes were minimal. At one-month follow-up, intervention-group scores were 31.81 ± 2.40, 15.38 ± 1.86, and 31.31 ± 3.20, respectively. Reported inferential inconsistencies prevented reliable confirmation of statistical significance. Conclusion: Integrated EST–UP was associated with favorable descriptive changes in executive difficulties and cognitive emotion regulation. Verified statistical analyses are required to establish comparative effectiveness.
SN - 2345-5802
ER -