Journal of the stylistic of Persian poem and prose
volume Number 19، number In Volume 4، July 2026 ، issue Number 122

Analysis and Examination of Jeffrey Young’s Schema Therapy in the Poetry of Mehdi Akhavan-Sales

Mahsa Khodadoust , Parvaneh Adelzade (Author in Charge), Kamran Pashaei Fakhri

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The poetry of Mehdi Akhavan-Sales transcends a mere poetic act or narrative; it reflects the profound psychological and social wounds of human beings caught amid historical and political defeats, particularly following the events of 28 Mordad 1332 (the 1953 coup d’état in Iran). The aim of this study is to provide a scholarly analysis and explanation of the psychological structures governing Akhavan-Sales’s poetic world through the lens of Jeffrey Young’s Schema Therapy theory. It seeks to demonstrate how individual and social events in the poet’s life transformed into deep psychological wounds that shaped his poetic expression.

METHODOLOGY: The research employs a descriptive–analytical method based on library research and focuses on eight significant poetry collections by Akhavan-Sales.

FINDINGS: The findings indicate that Young’s fundamental schemas can be significantly traced within the poetry of Akhavan-Sales. His poetic world provides an accurate representation of the collapse of a generation’s schemas as well as the poet’s personal, emotional, and even familial struggles and challenges.

CONCLUSION: The results reveal that several core schemas—including vulnerability, mistrust, social rejection, abandonment, emotional deprivation, and defectiveness—are clearly evident in Akhavan-Sales’s poetry. In fact, these schemas constitute a psychological response to the feelings of inferiority, deprivation, and failures that the poet experienced throughout his individual and social life.

Keyword
Jeffrey Young , Mehdi Akhavan- Sales’s Poetry , Schema Therapy , Psychoanalytic Criticism.