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Aims: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a progressive and chronic disease of central nervous system with different symptoms and physical-psychological disabling effects, which brings about various problems for the patient. The present study was aimed to investigate the effectiveness of compassion-focused therapy (CFT) on mental health of women with multiple sclerosis.
Materials & Methods: The present research was a semi-empirical intervention conducted by pretest-posttest with control group design. The research population included all the women with active case file in MS association of Tehran in 2016. The sample was composed of 30 female patients which were selected by available sampling method and based on exclusion and inclusion criteria of the study and their scores in the questionnaire. The sample were assigned into experimental and control groups (15 individuals per group) by random assignment method. The study tool was general health questionnaire (GHQ) of Goldberg and Hiller (1979). After conducting the pretest for both groups, subjects of the experimental group received eight weekly 2-hour sessions of CFT in a group format. The control group was put in the waiting list. The data were analyzed through univariate covariance analysis (ANCOVA) in SPSS v18.
Findings: Results indicated that, after the posttest, there was a significant difference between mean scores of mental health among experimental and control groups. In other words, CFT led to increased mental health in subjects of the intervention group compared to the control group (p<0.01, F=45.49).
Conclusion: According to the results of the present study, the compassion-focused therapy reduces psychological problems and improves mental health of patients with multiple sclerosis through increasing their internal awareness, non-judgmental acceptance, empathy, and consistent attention to internal emotions. It is recommended that MS associations across Iran would use this therapeutic method for enhancing psychological health of patients.

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Aims: Infidelity is one of the important problems in marital life which is widely seen in disturbed families and families in which partners feel that they have to get divorced. This phenomenon mainly happens for the purpose of satisfying emotional or sexual needs of the person through extramarital relationships. The present research was conducted by the aim of determining the effect of group forgiveness-based intervention on marital intimacy of women affected by infidelity of  their spouse.
Materials & Methods: This semi-experimental research was conducted by pretest-posttest with control group design. The research population included all the women who visited Aram psychological and counseling center in Gorgan city in 2016 because of infidelity of spouse. Among the applicants of participation in the sessions, 30 women (15 subjects per group) were selected by purposeful sampling method, and they were assigned into experiment and control groups through random assignment method. Thompson and Walker’s Marital Intimacy Scale (1983) was used for gathering the data in pretest and posttest stages. Group forgiveness-based intervention was delivered to the experiment group in nine 90-minute sessions. The control group was put on the waiting list. The data analysis was conducted by univariate covariance analysis (ANCOVA) in SPSS v20.
Findings: Findings indicated that, after the posttest, there was a significant difference in mean scores of marital intimacy between the experiment and control groups.  In other words, group forgiveness-based intervention led to improvement in marital intimacy among the subjects of the intervention group compared to the control group (p<0.01, F=9.75).
Conclusion: Group forgiveness-based intervention creates the ground for improvement in marital intimacy in the marital relationship through reducing negative emotions, increasing positive emotions, and also creating change in the attitude and behavior of the spouse affected by infidelity towards the infidel spouse.