A Comparative Study of the Effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction on Anxiety Sensitivity and Symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Generalized anxiety disorder is a chronic anxiety disorder associated with higher psychiatric disorders. Various treatments have been proposed for generalized anxiety disorder. Cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness-based stress reduction therapies are still front runners in this field. This study aimed to compare the effect of cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness on anxiety sensitivity and generalized anxiety disorder symptoms among the students with generalized anxiety disorder.
The research employed a quasi-experimental design. The population of the study included all fourth year female students in Robat Karim- Iran in 2015-2016. Convince sampling was used to recruit 45 participants. The participants were assigned to three groups in equal numbers. The research instruments were the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) and Anxiety Sensitivity index (ASI). All the groups received 9 sessions of mindfulness and 9 sessions of cognitive behavioral therapy training. Multivariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to analyze the data.
The results showed that cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness are equally effective in reducing anxiety sensitivity (p Cognitive behavior therapy and mindfulness are effective in reducing levels of anxiety sensitivity and symptoms of generalized anxiety along with other treatment approaches including pharmacological interventions.