Psychological problems and quality of life are two very important variables in hypothyroid patients. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of mentalization-based treatment on mental status (depression and anxiety) and quality of life in women with hypothyroidism. This study was a semi-experimental type with a post-test-pre-test design and follow-up with a control group. The mental status and life quality of the participants were evaluated using the anxiety, depression, and stress questionnaire (DASS-21) and the short version of the World Health Quality of Life (WHO-QoL-BREF). 30 patients were selected and diagnosed with depression and anxiety by a fellow psychiatrist, and they were randomly divided into two groups of 15: test and control. Then the participants of the experimental group received mentalization therapy in 12 sessions of 90 minutes. In data analysis, analysis of variance with repeated measurements and LSD post hoc test were used. The findings of the research showed that the average pre-test depression and anxiety scores of the experimental group decreased in the post-test stage. Also, comparing before and after the intervention, the average scores of the quality of life dimensions of the experimental group, including mental health, physical health, environmental health, and social relations were increased. Therefore, MBT is effective in reducing anxiety and depression and increasing life quality in women with hypothyroidism (P≤0.01). According to the obtained results, it can be concluded that one of the effective educational approaches to help women with hypothyroidism is the mentalization approach, which can be used as a useful treatment model to prevent psychological disorders and improve the quality of life.
