Effectiveness of Emotion-Based Psychotherapy on Loneliness and Sensitivity to Rejection in Adolescents with an Addicted Parent

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of emotion-based psychotherapy on loneliness and sensitivity to rejection in adolescents with an addicted parent. This study was a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest with a control group. The study population was consisted of all adolescents of Tehran city with an addicted parent in 2020. The sample consisted of 30 (15 for each group) adolescents that were selected as voluntary and randomly recruits to each of the groups. Then, the participants in the experimental group participated in 8 sessions of 120 min of emotion-based psychotherapy, while the control group did not receive any therapy. Instruments for gathering data were the Soci-Affective Loneliness Scale (DiTommasso, Brannen, Best, 2004) and the Interpersonal Sensitivity Questionnaire (Boyce and Parker, 1989). Then, the data were analyzed using SPSS.v21 software and statistical tests such as multivariate analysis of covariance. The results indicate that emotion-based psychotherapy had a significant impact on loneliness (F=62.868, P=0.000) and sensitivity to rejection (F=5.629, P=0.026) in adolescents with an addicted parent. Based on the findings of this study, emotion-based psychotherapy improves loneliness and sensitivity to rejection in adolescents with an addicted parent and represents new horizons in clinical interventions. So, it seems that this intervention is an applicable intervention for adolescents with an addicted parent.