The effects of sandplay therapy on the depression, anxiety and saliva cortisol of university students with ADHD tendencies

Abstract

This study preformed sandplay therapy, a typer of individual psychotherapy, targeting college students with ADHD tendencies to determine whether the therapy was effective in reducing their depression, anxiety, and saliva cortisol which is a biochemical indicator of stress. This research used Conners` Adult ADHD Rating Scale-Korean Version (CAARS-K), Beck`s Depression Inventory (BDI), and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), targeting 797 college students in the central region of Korea. Among the participants who fell into the top 20% and displayed high levels of depression and anxiety in Conners` ADHD rating scale, eight students who agreed to the experiment were finally selected. The sandplay therapy program was conducted for a total of ten weeks, one session per week, 45 minutes per session. Pre-tests and post-tests questionnaire surveys were conducted and saliva cortisol samples were collected on a biweekly basis pre-tests and post-tests each session during the program. The statistical programs used to verify the effectiveness of this study were SPSS 15.0 Version and the Wilcoxon Rank Sum-Test, a non-parametric statistical process, was performed to verify the pre-tests and post-tests effect of each variable. The results indicated that sandplay therapy was effective in reducing their depression, state-trait anxiety, and the secretion of cortisol, a hormone related to endocrine stress.