Effects of Cognitive Behavioral Group Therapy on Reduction of Anxious Thoughts among Selected High School Students in Iran: A Case Study

Abstract

Cognitive behavioral group therapy (CBT) helps reduce individuals’ anxious thoughts. Considering this, the present study aimed to determine the level of anxious thoughts among selected Iranian high school students and to explore whether cognitive behavioral group therapy curtails anxious thoughts among Iranian high school students. To do so, a one-group pretest-posttest design was adopted (quantitative design) in this research, to measure the effectiveness of anxious thoughts-reduction policies to reduce anxiety among Iranian high school students. To address the research objectives, 20 teenagers who were students at some schools in Mashhad, Iran, participated in this study after taking the Anxious Thoughts Inventory (AnTI) designed by Wells (1994). The analysis of the data obtained from implementing the questionnaires was performed through SPSS 25 software in two sections: descriptive and inferential (Paired sample t-test). The results revealed that the means score of the students at the beginning of the experiment in the pretest at Anxious Thoughts Inventory was 63 which was a sever level of anxious thoughts at the pretest.  The item “I worry about my appearance” remained on top both in the pretest and posttest. A paired t-test was used and showed that there was a significant difference in the pretest and posttest scores of anxious thoughts of the participants after using the cognitive behavioral group therapy. Therefore, it can be concluded that cognitive behavioral group therapy curtails anxious thoughts effectively.