The Effectiveness of Positive Psychotherapy on Optimism and Alexithymia in Retired Female Teachers with Anxiety

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of positive psychotherapy on optimism and alexithymia in retired women's teachers with anxiety. The study was applied based on the target. The method was semi-experimental with pre-test, post-test, and follow up design with experimental and control groups. Thirty retired women's teachers with anxiety were selected as the sample using the purposeful method. Fifteen subjects were randomly assigned to the experimental group and fifteen people in the control group. The instruments for collecting data were Questionnaires of Scheier & Carver Optimism, Toronto Alexithymia & Beck Anxiety Questionnaire. Positive psychology protocol for eight sessions every week in 90 minutes was accomplished in the experimental group, while the control group didn't receive any intervention. The covariance analysis was used for data analysis. The research results indicated positive psychotherapy had a positive effect on optimism and alexithymia. It led to increasing emotional recognition, reducing the difficulty of describing emotions, and increasing the objective thinking of anxious retired women's teachers. Positive psychotherapy had a decreased effect on alexithymia in the experimental group in the post-test and follow-up phases. Simultaneously, there was an increase in optimism in the experimental group in the post-test and follow-up stages. Moreover, the effects of the interventions remained stable until the follow-up in the experimental group