Effects of Attachment-Based Therapy on Emotional Autonomy, Emotion Regulation, and Rumination in Adolescents with Depression Symptoms

Background: Adolescence is an important period in the social and psychological development of human beings. Depression is a major problem that now affects many adolescents. Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate the effects of attachment-based therapy on emotional autonomy, emotion regulation, and rumination in adolescents with depression symptoms. Materials & Methods: This quasi-experimental research adopted a pretest-posttest control group design. Purposive sampling was employed to select ۳۰ adolescents with depression symptoms as the research sample. They were then assigned randomly to an experimental and control group (n=۱۵ per group). The experimental group received an intervention including twelve ۴۵-minute sessions. All participants completed the Emotional Autonomy Scale (EAS), the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), and the Rumination Response Scale (RRS) at the pretest, posttest, and follow-up stages. The repeated measures ANOVA was used for data analysis. Results: According to the results, there was a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in the mean scores of emotional autonomy, emotion regulation, and rumination (P< ۰.۰۰۱). The results also indicated that attachment-based therapy significantly improved emotional autonomy, emotion regulation strategies (e.g., reappraisal and suppression), and rumination at the posttest and follow-up stages (P< ۰.۰۰۱). Conclusions: Attachment-based therapy should be employed as a therapeutic priority for improving emotional autonomy and emotion regulation strategies (e.g., reappraisal and suppression) and alleviating rumination in adolescents with depression symptoms.