Enhancing Ego Strength, Emotional Stability, and Communication Skills in Prisoners with Antisocial Personality Disorder: Evaluating the Impact of Cognitive-Analytic Therapy

Hashemi, Marzie; NajmZaadeh, Mohammad Ali; Niknam, Mandana

doi:10.30483/rjm.2026.254697.1463

Enhancing Ego Strength, Emotional Stability, and Communication Skills in Prisoners with Antisocial Personality Disorder: Evaluating the Impact of Cognitive-Analytic Therapy

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Marzie Hashemi

Mohammad Ali NajmZaadeh

Mandana Niknam

Department of Psychology and Education, Faculty of Humanities, Khatam University, Tehran, Iran

10.30483/rjm.2026.254697.1463

Abstract

Background: Antisocial Personality Disorder is a chronic and prevalent condition among incarcerated populations and is associated with impaired ego functioning, emotional instability, and deficient interpersonal communication.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of Cognitive-Analytic Therapy on ego strength, emotional stability, and communication skills in male prisoners diagnosed with ASPD.

Methods: This study explored the effectiveness of Cognitive-Analytic Therapy on ego strength, emotional stability, and communication skills in male prisoners with Antisocial Personality Disorder. A pre-test and post-test quasi-experimental design was employed, with an intervention group (n = 18) and a control group (n = 18), selected from male prisoners in Tehran with a confirmed ASPD diagnosis in 2023. The subjects were selected using purposive sampling and assigned to the groups randomly. Data were collected using standardized psychometric measures, including the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory, the Psychosocial Inventory of Ego Strengths, the NEO Five-Factor Inventory – Short form, and the Communication Skills Test-Revised. The CAT intervention consisted of 10 sessions, held twice weekly for 2 hours each. Data were analyzed using SPSS, with descriptive statistics and covariance analysis.

Results: revealed that there were considerable improvements in ego strength (F = 6.809, η = 0.180), communication skills (F = 31.221, η = 0.502), and emotional stability (F = 17.083, η = 0.355) in the intervention group compared to the control group (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: The findings suggest that Cognitive-Analytic Therapy can be an effective therapeutic approach for enhancing psychological functioning and interpersonal skills among individuals with ASPD.

Keywords

Antisocial Personality Disorder

Cognitive-Analytic Therapy

Communication Skills

Ego Strength

Emotional Stability

Acknowledgements: No funding or financial support was received for this study.

Availability of data and materials: Data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Conflicts of interests: The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

Consent for publication: Not applicable.

Ethics approval and consent to participate: The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of Shahid Beheshti University (Approval ID: IR.SBU.REC.1402.160). All study procedures were executed in compliance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Participants provided informed written consent after receiving a comprehensive briefing on the study's objectives and confidentiality measures.

Financial disclosure: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Author contributions: M. H. was responsible for the conceptualization and overall supervision of the study, as well as manuscript preparation, editing, and revision. MA. N. conducted the therapeutic intervention and contributed to data collection and results analysis.M. N. served as the academic advisor.

Open Access Policy: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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