Procedure
Participant enrollment started on the 10th of July 2021, and trial completed on the 31st of December 2021, at different hospitals in the Faisalabad. Initially, participants’ baseline assessment was completed in the hospital’s outpatient setting. After qualifying the eligibility criteria, participants were interviewed and were invited for intake at the psychoogical clinic. Participants who met the study criteria and gave written informed consent to participate in the study were registered for this randomized clinical trial. Participants assigned to treatment conditions were assessed (pre-assessment), and at treatment completion, they were again assessed (post-assessment) with the duration of 4 months between the two assessments. We provided 8 to 10 CBT-based therapeutic sessions based on a particular agenda and goal (see interventions). Participants allocated to waitlist control were also assessed at pre-and post-assessment stages with the same time interval allocated for the experimental group.