ABSTRACT
Social relationships and communities provide the context and impetus for a range of psychological developments, from genetic expression to the development of core self-identities. This suggests a need to think about the therapeutic changes and processes that occur within a community context and how communities can enable therapeutic change. However, the 'therapeutic communities' that have developed since the Second World War have been under-researched. We suggest that the concept of community, as a change process, should be revisited within mainstream scientific research. This paper briefly reviews the historical development of therapeutic communities and critically evaluates their current theory, practice and outcomes in a systematic review. Attention is drawn to recent research on the nature of evolved emotion regulation systems, the way these are entrained by social relationships, the importance of affiliative emotions in the regulation of threat and the role of fear of affiliative emotions in psychopathology. We draw on concepts from compassion-focussed therapy, social learning theory and functional analytical psychotherapy to consider how members of a therapeutic community can be aware of each other's acts of courage and respond using compassion. Living in structured and affiliative-orientated communities that are guided by scientific models of affect and self-regulation offers potential therapeutic advantages over individual outpatient therapy for certain client groups. This conclusion should be investigated further. Key Practitioner Message Current therapeutic community practice is not sufficiently evidence based and may not be maximizing the potential therapeutic value of a community. Compassion-focussed therapy and social learning theory offer new approaches for a therapeutic environment, involving an understanding of the role, nature and complexities of compassionate and affiliative relationships from staff and members, behavioural change guided by learning theory, a clear formulation based on threat-derived safety strategies, goal setting and positive reinforcement.
Subject(s)
Empathy , Mental Disorders/therapy , Social Behavior , Therapeutic Community , HumansABSTRACT
Abstract Objective Early marriage has many deleterious effects on the health of girls, such as sexual dissatisfaction, an inevitable result of the lack of sufficient knowledge about sexual issues at the time of the marriage. The goal of the present study was to determine the effectiveness of counseling based on functional analytic psychotherapy with enhanced cognitive therapy (FECT) on the sexual quality of life of married adolescent women. Methods This clinical trial was conducted between July and October 2019 on 150 married adolescent women who met the inclusion criteria. In the intervention group, FECTwas conducted in sixteen 90-minute sessions twice a week. The Sexual Quality of Life-Female (SQOL-F) questionnaire was used. When the study ended, the control group was given the choice of receiving the same intervention as the intervention group. Results The paired t-test showed a significant difference between the mean score of sexual quality of life before (52.33±23.09) and after (88.08±10.51) counseling in the intervention group (p<0.0001). According to the analysis of covariance, there was a significant difference between the score on sexual quality after counseling between the intervention (88.08±10.51) and control (60.32±23.73) groups (p<0.0001). There was also a significant difference between the mean score on the four dimensions of sexual quality of life in the intervention group (p<0.0001). Conclusion The results showed that counseling based on FECT improved the sexual quality of life in all dimensions in married adolescent women.
Resumo Objetivo O casamento precoce tem muitos efeitos deletérios sobre a saúde das meninas, como a insatisfação sexual, resultado inevitável da falta de conhecimento suficiente sobre questões sexuais no momento do casamento. O objetivo do presente estudo foi determinar a eficácia do aconselhamento baseado em psicoterapia analítica funcional com terapia cognitiva aprimorada (FECT) na qualidade de vida sexual de mulheres adolescentes casadas. Métodos Este ensaio clínico foi realizado entre julho e outubro de 2019 em 150 mulheres adolescentes casadas que preencheram os critérios de inclusão. No grupo de intervenção, FECT foi realizado em dezesseis sessões de 90 minutos duas vezes por semana. Foi utilizado o questionário Sexual Quality of Life-Female (SQOL-F). Quando o estudo terminou o grupo de controle teve a opção de receber a mesma intervenção do grupo de intervenção. Resultados O teste t pareado mostrou diferença significativa entre o escore médio da qualidade de vida sexual antes (52,33±23,09) e após (88,08±10,51) o aconselhamento no grupo intervenção (p<0,0001). De acordo com a análise de covariância houve diferença significativa entre o escore de qualidade sexual após aconselhamento entre os grupos intervenção (88,08±10,51) e controle (60,32±23,73) (p<0,0001). Também houve diferença significativa entre a pontuação média nas quatro dimensões da qualidade de vida sexual no grupo de intervenção (p<0,0001). Conclusão Os resultados mostraram que o aconselhamento baseado no FECT melhorou a qualidade de vida sexual em todas as dimensões em mulheres adolescentes casadas.