The Effectiveness of Emotion-Focused Therapy on Anxiety Sensitivity and Negative Meta-Emotion in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

Abstract

Introduction and Aim: Given the emotional problems faced by individuals with diabetes, the aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of emotion-focused therapy on anxiety sensitivity and negative meta-emotion in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Methodology: This study was quasi-experimental with a pretest, posttest a three-month follow-up design with and included experimental and control groups. The study population comprised patients with type 2 diabetes of Gorgan city in 2025 year, which 50 individuals of them were selected after evaluating the inclusion criteria by available sampling method and were randomly assigned into two equal groups. The experimental group received 8 sessions of 90 minute by emotion-focused therapy, while the control group during this period did not receive any intervention. Research instruments included the Anxiety Sensitivity Questionnaire (Floyd et al., 2005) and Negative Meta-Emotion Scale (Mitmansgruber et al, 2009). Data were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance in SPSS version 26.

Findings: The results of this study indicated that emotion-focused therapy led to reduction of anxiety sensitivity and negative meta-emotion in patients with type 2 diabetes, and results were maintained at the three-month follow-up (P<0.001).

Conclusion: The findings of this study indicated the effectiveness of emotion-focused therapy in reducing anxiety sensitivity and negative meta-emotion in patients with type 2 diabetes. Therefore, counselors and therapists may consider utilizing this intervention as an effective approach to alleviate emotional challenges, particularly in addressing anxiety sensitivity and negative meta-emotion.