Introduction: Various approaches have attempted to improve and treat suicidal and self-harming behaviors and thoughts, and emotion regulation. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness of dialectical behavior therapy on behaviors and thoughts related to suicide, self-harm, and emotion regulation problems in adolescent girls seeking gender reassignment.
Materials and Methods: The present study was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest design and a control group. All 55 adolescent girls seeking gender reassignment, who referred to counseling centers in Mashhad in 2022, constituted the research population. From these clients, 20 people were selected using a convenience sampling method and randomly assigned to two experimental and control groups. The Self-Injury Questionnaire (SHI), the Difficulty in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS-16), the Gender Identity and Gender Boredom Scale for Adolescents (GIDYQ_AA), and the Revised Suicide Scale (SBQ-R) were the research instruments. The intervention group received dialectical behavior therapy for 10 sessions of 90 minutes, and the control group did not receive any intervention. At the end of the sessions, both groups were re-measured with a post-test. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance.
Results: Dialectical therapy significantly reduced suicidal thoughts and direct and indirect self-harm, and increased emotion regulation in the experimental group compared to the control group (p<0.001, F=34.06). The effect size was 0.76.
Conclusion: It is suggested that this treatment be used by counselors and psychologists for these individuals, and that school officials be given the necessary training so that if students with gender identity problems are observed, they can identify them more quickly and provide them with therapeutic interventions.