The aim of the current study was to examine the effect of emotional schema therapy (EST) on migraine severity and cognitive emotion regulation strategies. In this study, 16 women with migraine were randomly assigned to EST group (n = 8) and a waitlist control group (WLC; n = 8). Participants in the EST group received 12sessions of group emotional schema therapy. Ahwaz Migraine Headache Questionnaire (AMQ) and Cognitive-Emotional Regulation questionnaire (CERQ) were measured pre-treatment, post-treatment, and at one-month of follow-up. Results indicated that EST was more effective than WLC in reducing migraine severity at post-test and follow up. In addition, participants in the treatment condition showed significant improvement in adaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies at post-test and follow up. Furthermore, as the results showed, time, group, and interaction did not reduce maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies significantly. Our results suggest that emotional schema therapy may be useful in alleviating migraine pains.

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