The effectiveness of group cognitive therapy and dialectical behavior therapy on students’ general health

Subject Areas : Thoughts and Behavior in Clinical Psychology

Saeid Najarpour ¹ , Javad Khalatbari ²

1 - دپارتمان روان‌شناسی، دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی واحد رشت، رشت، ایران
2 - دپارتمان روان شناسی، دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی واحد تنکابن، تنکابن، ایران

Received: 2016-09-12 Accepted : 2016-09-12 Published : 2016-12-21

Keywords: dialectical behavior therapy, cognitive therapy, General Health,

Abstract :

Mental health effects general health, psychological well-being, , network of social support and interpersonal relationships and skills. Since feeling of being healthy improve psychological, social, occupational and family performances, this study aims to investigate the effectiveness of group cognitive therapy and dialectical behavior therapy on students’ general health. Therefore, in a quasi-experimental study, 250 students were selected through availability method and evaluated for general health. From this, 45 people who had the highest scores were selected and randomly assigned to one control and two experimental groups (n=15). The first experimental group received eight two-hour sessions of dialectical behavior therapy and second experimental group received eight two-session of cognitive therapy. The control group received no therapy. In the last session, participants were evaluated again for general health. Analysis of covariance showed that after scores adjustment of pre-test, there are significant differences between the means of three groups’ post-test scores. Additionally, examination of adjusted means demonstrated the effectiveness of teaching the cognitive therapy skills in comparison to dialectical behavioral therapy skills. It can be conclude that cognitive therapy is effective in increasing the general health of students; however, dialectical behavior therapy has not made a significant improvement in participants’ general health.