Comparison of the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy and psychodrama on students with social anxiety

Social anxiety is one of the most common anxiety disorders. There are various treatments for it. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of cognitive group behavioral intervention and psychodrama in reducing the symptoms of this disorder.

The research is a quasi-experimental study with pre-test and post-test with the control group. 445 students participated in this study. First, Connorchr('39')s social phobia questionnaire and then clinical interviews selected 36 students who had the most social anxiety and then were randomly divided into three groups. For one group, group cognitive-behavioral therapy was performed in 12 sessions of 2 hours, and for the other group, were performed too. Finally, social anxiety was assessed in three groups and the results were compared.

Most of them lacked the criteria for social anxiety (370students) and 15 patients (3.4%) showed severe symptoms of the disorder. Analysis of covariance showed that there was a significant difference between the mean post-test scores of intervention and control group(F=37.25 and p<0.001), this difference was also no significant between intervention groups (p >0/05).

Both methods are effective in reducing social anxiety. Also, the results showed that the two therapeutic interventions in reducing social anxiety in students are not superior to each other.