فصلنامه فرهنگ مشاوره و روان درمانی
پیاپی 14 (تابستان 1392)

The present research aims to develop a treatment protocol by conscious raising based on the activation of the Islamic-spiritual schemas and compare its effectiveness with the process-experiential/emotion-focused therapy on decreasing the social anxiety of female students of Allameh Tabataba’i University. The sample population included 45 female students of the semi-attendance college, who were randomly divided into experiment 1, experiment 2, and control groups, each consisting of 15 subjects. The experiment groups separately received therapeutic interventions in 8 sessions. The research instrument was the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory (SPAI). The data were analyzed using covariance analysis and post-test. The results confirmed the first research hypothesis with the probability of 99%. The first hypothesis stated that consciousness raising based on the activation of the Islamic-spiritual schemas was effective on decreasing the social anxiety of female students. Moreover, the results showed that the process-experiential/emotion-focused therapy was effective in decreasing the social anxiety of the female university students. Thus, the second hypothesis was also confirmed with the probability of 99%. The third hypothesis, which predicted a significant difference between the effectiveness of the treatment protocol by consciousness raising based on the activation of the Islamic-spiritual schemas and the process-experiential/emotion-focused therapy on decreasing the social anxiety of female students was confirmed with the probability of 99%.Keywords:

Recent studies show that depressed people have an attention bias to negative stimuli. Therefore, the present study was carried out to compare attention bias in depressed and normal people. The present research was an analysis study with a causal-comparative method. The statistical population included all the depressed individuals who had referred to a psychological clinic in Tehran. Using convenience sampling method and carrying out the Beck Depression Inventory as well as the unstructured interview with DSMIV criteria, 30 depressed individuals (cut-off point 21 and higher) were selected as the patient group, and then were compared to 30 normal people, as the control group, in terms of sex, age, marriage status, and education levels as compare group. Finally, the computer-based neurological test of Dot-Probe (emotional faces stimuli) was performed on the subjects of both groups. The data were analyzed using t-test to examine the extent of matching between the two groups, and the multivariate analysis of covariance (MANOVA) was applied to study attention bias in the two groups. The results showed that there was a difference of time speed between the two groups; i.e. the depressed group acted slower in responding to incongruent stimuli. However, there was no significant difference in accuracy of the responds. The findings imply the role of depression severity in exacerbating attention bias in depressed people, and also the necessity to apply treatment methods or to use attention bias modification in depressed individuals.

The present research aims to study the psycho-physical consequences of chemical bombardment on the victims of Sardasht city. This study was carried out using a qualitative method with an interpretative approach. The statistical population included all the affected people of Sardasht. Using the convenience sampling method, 15 men and 15 women were selected. The semi-structured interview was used to study the psychological consequences of the chemical bombardment. The data were analyzed through dividing them into different categories. The results showed that a vast range of the victims complained about feeling insecure, problems in eye, skin, lung, asthma, vertigo, headache, exhaustion problems, itchiness and burning of the body, nightmare, anger, emotional dependence, personality disorders, and the decrease of social interaction. The results of the research demonstrated that chemical bombardment had created many negative psycho-physical consequences among victims, and they needed government and non-government supportive interferences.

The present research aims to study the effect of teaching self-encouragement on decreasing exam anxiety and perfectionism of the 1st-grade female high school students. The research method was semi-empirical and control group pre-test and post-test was the research design. Using cluster random sampling method, 20 1st-grade female students of Tehran district 9 in the educational year 2011-2012 were selected and randomly put into experiment and control groups (each consisting of 10 subjects). Ahvaz Test of Anxiety Inventory (1996) and Ahvaz Perfectionism Scale (1999) were used to measure the extent of exam anxiety and perfectionism respectively in pre-test and post-test. The experiment group received 10 ninety-minute sessions of teaching self-encouragement (Schumacher, 1980). After the teaching sessions were finished, the post-test was carried out in both experiment and control groups. The covariance analysis showed that the rate of exam anxiety and perfectionism in the experiment group was significantly decreased (p<0.01). It can be concluded that teaching self-encouragement resulted in the decrease of exam anxiety and perfectionism in the 1st-grade female high school students. Therefore, it is recommended to use such teaching program in order to decrease the level of the students’ exam anxiety and perfectionism so that their mental health could be maintained

The present research aims to study the role of character strengths in predicting the employees’ task performance. Using simple sampling method, 165 subjects were randomly selected from among the personnel of Shahid Mohammad Montazeri Power Generation Management Company. The instruments used in the study included Values in Action Inventory of Strengths (Peterson & Seligman, 2003), the Task Performance Checklist (Byrne et al. 2005) and the Contextual Performance Checklist (Conway, 1999). The results of the stepwise regression analysis indicated that the character strengths of open-mindedness, spirituality and social intelligence predicted task performance, and that the character strengths of gratitude and open-mindedness predicted contextual performance.

The present research aims to study the effect of teaching self-talk management on decreasing the depression rate among students. Using cluster random sampling method, 30 female high school students suffering from depression were selected from among the high school students of the city of Arak. They were randomly put in two groups of control and experiment. The experiment group, which consisted of 15 subjects, was instructed self-talk management in 10 sessions and the control group, which consisted of 15 subjects, did not receive any training. The data were collected using the Beck Depression Questionnaire (long form) in which the sample population obtained the score of 10 (cut-off point) or higher scores. The questionnaire was applied as the pre-test and post-test. The independent t-test was used to analyze the data and calculate the differences in pre-test and post-test scores. The results confirmed the hypothesis of the research that teaching self-talk management is effective in decreasing the depression rate among students. The effect of the independent variable caused a distinctive difference in the average scores of the two groups.

‘Narcotic Anonymous’ is a global organization with millions of members that has helped countless addicts in avoiding drugs through a spiritual recovery program. The present research aims to study the role of spirituality dimensions (meaning in life, the effect of relationship with God, spiritual development and activity, transcendent mystical experiences, spiritual negative experience, social-religious activities) in predicting the coping styles (task-oriented, avoidance-oriented, emotional-oriented) among the members of the Narcotic Anonymous. In this correlational study, 96 male members of the NA in the city of Shahrood (20-40 years old with at least 6 mounts of withdrawal) were selected as the research sample. The spirituality experience and coping style questionnaires were carried out. The data were analyzed using simultaneous regression analysis. The results showed that spirituality dimensions significantly predicted the task-oriented and avoidance-oriented coping styles. From among spirituality subscales, the effect of relationship with God and transcendent spiritual experiences accounted for 33% of the variance of task-oriented and 20% of the variance of avoidance-oriented coping styles. It seems that spirituality enhancement among the members of the Narcotic Anonymous may develop the coping styles by which individuals could avoid using opiates.