The Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies Training on Psychological Well-Being, Executive Functions and Psychological Flexibility in Male Patients with Bipolar Disorder Type I

Abstract

Introduction and Aim: Bipolar disorder is a serious psychological disorder with many negative consequences. Therefore, the aim of present study was determine the effectiveness of emotion regulation strategies training on psychological well-being, executive functions, and psychological flexibility in male patients with bipolar disorder type I.

Methodology: This study was a quasi-experimental with a pretest, posttest, and follow-up design with a control group. The population of this research was male patients with bipolar disorder type I referred to psychiatric hospital of Hamadan city in 2024 year. The sample of the present study consisted of 34 people who were selected using a available sampling method and randomly assigned into two groups of 17 people. The experimental group received 8 sessions of emotion regulation strategies training, and the control group remained on the waiting list for training. The instruments of the present research included the Psychological Well-Being Questionnaire (Ryff, 1989), University of Wisconsin Card-Sorting Test (Grant & Berg, 1948), and Personalized Psychological Flexibility Index (Kashdan et al., 2020). The data of the present study were analyzed using analysis of variance with repeated measures and Bonferroni post hoc test in SPSS software.

Findings: The results of this study indicated that emotion regulation strategies training increased psychological well-being, executive functions, and psychological flexibility in male patients with bipolar disorder type I, and the results remained at follow-up stage (P<0.05).

Conclusion: According to the results of this study, counselors and therapists can use the method of emotion regulation strategies training to improve the characteristics of people with bipolar disorder, especially increasing psychological well-being, executive functions, and psychological flexibility.