The Effectiveness of Treatment Is Based on the Mentalization of Object Relations and Feelings of Shame and Guilt in Conflicting Mother-Child Relationships

Introduction: One of the problems during adolescence is the existence of conflict with parents, which creates object relationships and feelings of shame and guilt in them. This research was conducted to determine the effectiveness of treatment based on the mentalization of object relations and feelings of shame and guilt in conflicting mother-child relationships. Methods: This research method was semi-experimental and pre-test-post-test with a control group. The statistical population of this research included all mothers and adolescents with conflicting relationships who were referred to counseling centers in Shiraz in 2022. By using the available sampling method, 30 people from the mentioned community were selected as a sample and were randomly divided into two experimental (15 people) and control (15 people) groups. Asadi et al.'s parent-child conflict questionnaires (2010), Bell's object relations (1995), and Cohen et al.'s (2011) feelings of shame and guilt were used to collect information. The experimental group underwent executive function training for 13 sessions twice a week for 60 minutes, and the control group did not receive any training. The research data was analyzed using correlation. Results: The mean ± standard deviation of the experimental group in the post-test in the variable of object relations from 1.5 ± 1.37 to 28.6 ± 4.3 and in the variable of shame and guilt from 5 ± 1.60 to 5.60 ± 3. 51.2 ± 9.1 decreased. The results showed that in the post-test stage, the mean scores of object relations and feelings of shame and guilt in the experimental group decreased significantly compared to the control group (P < 0.01). Conclusions: Treatment based on mentalization was effective in improving object relationships and reducing feelings of shame and guilt. Therefore, this treatment can be suggested to reduce the conflict between adolescents and mothers.