Effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavioral Group Therapy on the Treatment of Anxiety and Depression Disorders and on Raising Hope in Women with Breast Cancer

The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral group therapy on anxiety, depression and hope of women suffering from breast cancer. This study was based on a quasi-experimental pre-test-post-test research design. 20 women with diagnosis of breast cancer and under chemotherapy were selected through convenient sampling. They were, then, randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. The instruments of the study were “Beck Anxiety Inventory”, “Beck Depression Inventory” and “Miler Hope Scale”. They were administered on respondents both before and after group therapy. The results of the study showed that group therapy significantly decreased the symptoms of anxiety and depression and increased hope in the experimental group (p<0/001). These changes were not observed in the control group. These findings underscore the necessity of applying psychological interventions besides routine medical ones for breast cancer patients.