The Effectiveness of Compassion-Focused Therapy on Neuroticism in Individuals with Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Abstract

Introduction and Aim: The present study aimed to determine the effectiveness of compassion-focused therapy on neuroticism in women with irritable bowel syndrome.

Methodology: This was a quasi-experimental study utilizing a pre-test/post-test design with a control group. The statistical population comprised all women with irritable bowel syndrome referred to Taleghani Hospital in Tehran in 2025. A sample of 30 participants was selected using purposive sampling and randomly assigned into two equal groups: experimental (n=15) and control (n=15). The research instruments included the NEO Personality Inventory (Costa & McCrae, 1985) and the Compassion-Focused Therapy protocol (Gilbert, 2009). Data were analyzed using the Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) after checking assumptions such as normality via the Shapiro-Wilk test.

Findings: The results of the inferential analysis (ANCOVA) indicated a significant difference between the two groups. The implementation of compassion-focused therapy led to a statistically significant decrease in the psychoneuroticism scores of the experimental group compared to the control group at the post-test stage (p<0.01).

Conclusion: Compassion-focused therapy effectively reduces neuroticism in individuals with irritable bowel syndrome by increasing self-kindness and improving emotion regulation. The obtained effect sizes demonstrate the high efficiency of this intervention. Therefore, this therapeutic approach can be utilized as an effective complementary intervention alongside routine medical and psychological treatments to enhance the mental health and well-being of these patients.