Abstract
Author(s): Mohsen Sahebanmaleki, Anahita Zandi, Zahra Sadeghi, Hamid Nazari, Elahe Ashouri, Maliheh Eshaghzadeh* and Zahra ShafieiIntroduction: There is evidence that social anxiety can disrupt the daily lives and relationships of individuals, especially students. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of group therapy based on acceptance and commitment with psychodrama components on social anxiety of undergraduate students of Torbat Heydariyeh University of Medical Sciences.
Methods: The present study is a randomized trial with a control group that was conducted in 1397 on 48 students with social anxiety disorder. Inclusion criteria were age greater than or equal to 18 years, no other mental illness, awareness, satisfaction and high social anxiety score, and exclusion criteria were the use of anti-anxiety drugs and not attending more than one session in the group. The treatment was selected by convenience sampling and randomly divided into one intervention group (12 patients) and three control groups (12 patients each). The intervention group (combined psychotherapy group) participated in the treatment course in 12 sessions of 90 minutes (2 sessions per week). Control groups included psychodrama therapy, acceptance-based therapy, commitment and no treatment. Data were collected through Connor Social Anxiety Questionnaire. Data were analysed using SPSS software version 20, analysis of variance and analysis of covariance.
Results: The results showed that 12 sessions of group therapy based on acceptance and commitment along with psychodrama components in pre-test and posttest reduced the amount of social anxiety in the intervention group so that this intervention had a significant effect (p=0/001).
Conclusion: Considering the importance of communication in the medical staff and the frequency of social anxiety among students, it can be said that finding an effective treatment method will improve interpersonal relationships.