Iranian Association for Intelligence and Talent Studies International Journal of Education and Cognitive Sciences 3041-8828 7 June 2026 2026 06 01 Comparison of the Effectiveness of Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy and Schema Therapy on Alexithymia in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease Comparison of the Effectiveness of Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy and Schema Therapy on Alexithymia in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease 1 10 10.61838/kman.ijecs.332 EN Journal Article 2025 08 12 <p><strong>Purpose: </strong>The present study aimed to compare the effectiveness of Young’s Schema Therapy and Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy on alexithymia in patients with chronic kidney disease.</p> <p><strong>Methods and Materials: </strong>The study employed an experimental design with pretest–posttest and a three-month follow-up, including a control group. The statistical population consisted of patients with chronic kidney disease in the city of Mashhad in 2023. A total of 45 participants were selected through convenience sampling and randomly assigned to three groups of 15 participants each (two experimental groups and one control group). The first experimental group received Young’s Schema Therapy over eight sessions, while the second experimental group underwent Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy over fifteen sessions, whereas the control group received no intervention. The research instrument was the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) (Bagby, Parker, &amp; Taylor, 1994). The data were analyzed using repeated-measures analysis of variance.</p> <p><strong>Findings: </strong>The results indicated that both therapeutic approaches were significantly more effective than the control group in reducing alexithymia among patients with chronic kidney disease, and these effects remained stable at the three-month follow-up. However, comparison of the two interventions showed that Schema Therapy demonstrated significantly greater effectiveness than Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy at the follow-up stage (p &lt; .001).</p> <p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The findings suggest that both therapeutic approaches are beneficial and durable for patients with chronic kidney disease, with Schema Therapy exhibiting a statistically significant superiority.</p> https://journalecs.com/index.php/ecs/article/download/332/305