Introduction: Self-injurious and self-critical behaviors play an important role in bipolar disorder as basic variables. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of behavioral activation therapy and dialectical behavior therapy on self-criticism and self-injurious behaviors of 18-12-year-olds with bipolar disorder.
Methodology: This research was a semi-experimental type of pre-test and post-test with a control group. The research population consisted of 18-12-year-olds with bipolar disorder in Tehran in 1400, which was selected from this population by purposive sampling from Tehran's Imam Hossein Hospital, Saadat Abad Clinic, and Qayim Shahr Clinic and based on a structured clinical interview. 60 teenagers were selected and placed in two experimental groups and a control group, 20 teenagers in each group (first experiment: dialectical behavior therapy), (second experiment: behavioral activation therapy) and control group. Klonsky and Glenn (2009) self-injurious behavior questionnaire and Thompson and Zuraf (2004) self-criticism questionnaire were used to collect data. Data analysis was done with the statistical method of covariance analysis and Bonferroni follow-up test at a significance level of 0.05 and with SPSS.21 software.
Findings: The results of the research showed that behavioral activation therapy and dialectical behavior therapy have an effect on self-criticism and self-harmful behaviors and have reduced self-criticism and self-harmful behaviors. The results of the Bonferroni test showed that dialectical therapy has a greater effect on self-criticism and self-injurious behaviors in adolescents with bipolar disorder than behavioral activation therapy (P<0.05).
Conclusion: behavioral activation therapy and dialectical behavior therapy play an important role in reducing self-criticism