Comparative Effects of Schema-Focused Cognitive and Self-Exploratory Therapies on Avoidant Personality Disorders among Senior Secondary School Students in Imo State, Nigeria

Anotace: This study investigated the comparative effects of Schema-focused cognitive therapy and self-exploratory therapy on avoidant personality disorder among Secondary School Students in Imo state. The researcher asked two research questions and formulated two hypotheses to guide the study. The study adopted a quasi-experiment design. The population of the study is 98054. A purposive sampling technique was used to select 48 SSS II students for the study. The instruments for data collection are the Students avoidant personality problem identification rating scale for students and the Students avoidance personality problem checklist for the teachers. Five specialists validated the instrument. The reliability coefficient of 0.76 was obtained using Cronbach Alpha. Data were analysed using mean, standard deviation and ANCOVA F-ratio. The study's findings show that the mean rating scores on avoidant personality disorder of the participants exposed to schema-focused cognitive therapy and self-exploratory therapy in post-treatment and follow-up do not differ significantly. Based on the findings, the researchers recommend that School counsellors should use both schemas-focused cognitive therapy and self-exploratory therapy in the treatment of avoidant personality disorder since they were found to have a significant effect on the condition.