Introduction: Marital infidelity is one of the serious interpersonal traumas that results in numerous psychological consequences, including reduced life expectancy and difficulty in forgiveness. The aim of the present study was to compare the effectiveness of emotion-focused therapy and schema therapy on forgiveness and life expectancy in women affected by marital infidelity.
Method: The present study was a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test-post-test design. The statistical population consisted of women affected by marital infidelity who referred to counseling centers in District 1 of Tehran in the second half of 2024. Among them, 30 people were selected through purposive sampling and randomly assigned to two experimental groups (15 people in each group). The first experimental group received 8 90-minute sessions of emotion-focused therapy and the second experimental group received 8 90-minute sessions of schema therapy. Data collection tools included the Schneider Life Expectancy Questionnaire (1991) and the Family Forgiveness Questionnaire (FFS). Data analysis was performed using analysis of variance and covariance.
Results: The results showed that both intervention methods increased life expectancy and forgiveness in affected women; in comparing effectiveness, schema therapy had a greater effect on life expectancy and emotion-focused therapy had a greater effect on increasing forgiveness.
Conclusion: Based on the findings, emotion-focused therapy and schema therapy can be used as effective approaches to improve the mental health of women affected by marital infidelity, and depending on the goals of treatment, each of these approaches is recommended.