JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY
Year:2012 | Volume:4 | Issue:3 (15)|Papers Count:13

Introduction: The fact that stress can cause undesirable changes in the psychosocial functioning and growth has caused the 1980 publication of DSM-III (and in future versions); psychosocial stressors are considered in the diagnosis of mental disorders. This study was designed to light psychosocial stressors among students.Method: This research has been conducted in a correlation study. Stratified random sample of 1011 students from the Payame Noor University of East Azerbaijan Province were selected and tested the perception of stressful events. Data analyzed using factor analysis and T test for independent groups.Results: The results showed four categories of stressors: loss related problems, readjustment related problems, education/ job related stressors and pleasant events related problems. Also, the perceptions of psychosocial stressors among female students than male students are.Conclusion: Thus DSM-IV-TR Axis IV 9 categories have represented in the four major categories identified in this study. However, this study showed that the pattern of psychosocial stressors in students can be different.

Introduction: This study examined the effectiveness of coping strategies to deal with irrational beliefs (cognitive approach) on test anxiety students.Method: The population consisted of all of first grade of high school students in Sharyar County. 60 cases of students with test anxiety, one standard deviation above the mean were selected and randomly divided into two groups (30 patients in experimental group and 30 controls) were replaced. 8 sessions of group training program for coping with irrational anxiety group were tested. All subjects before and after treatment and at one-month follow-up questionnaire completed coping with irrational beliefs.Results: Multivariate ANOVA for repeated measures showed that training reduced anxiety in coping with the irrational beliefs of the students are. These results were maintained at follow-up.Conclusion: Teaching of coping strategies can reduce students test anxiety and can lead to mental health.

Introduction: Processing systems are influenced by dysfunctional mechanisms of emotion cognition regulation and produce serious health problems as well as psychological disorders. The aim of this study was to investigate the moderating role of self-regulation on the relation between attachment styles and severity of substance use disorders.Method: Method of the present exploratory study was correlational and the statistical population included men suffering from substance use disorders referred to four therapy centers in Tehran. One hundred and twenty two consecutive referrals with substance use disorders participated in this study as sample of the study. All participants were asked to complete the Adult Attachment Inventory, the Self-Regulation Inventory, and the Addiction Severity Index. Analysis of data involved both descriptive and inferential statistics including frequency, means, standard deviation, Pearson's correlation coefficients and moderated hierarchical multiple regression.Results: Secure attachment style showed a significant positive association with self-regulation as well as a significant negative association with severity of substance use disorders, while insecure attachment styles (avoidant and ambivalent) showed significant negative association with self-regulation as well as a significant positive association with severity of substance use disorders. The result showed that self-regulation moderated the relation between attachment styles and severity of substance use disorders.Conclusion: On the basis of the results of the present study, it can be concluded that severity of substance use disorders is influenced by self-regulation.

Introduction: In addiction treatment and relapse prevention positive and negative emotional states and craving are important factors in relapse risk. The goal of current study was to assess the effectiveness of dialectical behavior therapy based emotion regulation skill training on craving reduction in substance abusers.Method: This research was administrated in single subject experimental designs framework using multiple baselines. According to participation tendency, structural diagnostic interview and inclusion criteria, 3 male substance abusers were selected randomly.Participants were imposing individually to dialectical behavior therapy based emotion regulation skill training in ten sessions. During emotion regulation skills training the craving intensity of participants were assessed via Craving Beliefs Questionnaire (Beck, 1993).Results: Dialectical behavior therapy based emotion regulation skill training dramatically reduced craving in all three subjects, so the scores during the intervention sessions were significantly reduced compared with baseline scores. The visual inspection of charts and size effects indicated significant decrease in craving of Participants.Conclusion: Dialectical behavior therapy based emotion regulation skill training interventions can be tempting choice of coping strategies to be effective and have constructive clinical implications in the field of substance abuse treatment and relapse prevention.

Introduction: Psycho-social factors have impact on quality of life in patients with chronic fatigue and influencing the therapeutic outcomes in these patients. The aim of this research was to investigate predictive role of psychological and demographical factors on quality of life in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.Method: In cross-sectional design study, 393 outpatients (150 men and 243 women) with chronic fatigue syndrome in attendants to hospital's clinics of Tehran University of Medical Sciences selected by convenience sampling. Data collected by Demographical Information Questionnaire, Chalder Fatigue Scale and Clinical Interview Schedule (CIS-IV), Quality of Life Scale (WHO- QOL-BREF) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and analyzed by correlation and stepwise multiple regression.Results: There was a significantly negative relationship among depression, anxiety, age and quality of life (P<0.001). Depression, anxiety, and age significantly predicted variation of quality of life in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (P<0.001) and totally explain 61% of quality of life (R2=0.61). Depression weight in explain of quality of life was highest (0.556).Conclusion: Depression, anxiety and patient's age important for quality of life in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome. Setting an agenda of planning for treatment of depression and anxiety in older aged patients with chronic fatigue syndrome is necessity for basic quality of life promotion in these patients.

Introduction: The aim of current study was to investigate personality characteristics of the irritable bowel syndrome patients, patients with other gastrointestinal disease and normal individuals.Method: Using casual-comparative method, 240 subjects (including irritable bowel syndrome patients, patients with other gastrointestinal diseases and normal individuals) were selected according to available sampling. Data were gathered using demographical questionnaire and Iranian Big Five Questionnaire. Data was analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey post-hoc test.Results: The results showed that the mean scores of neuroticism factor in patients with irritable bowel syndrome and patients with other gastrointestinal diseases are higher than normal individuals. While the mean scores of normal subjects in extraversion factor was higher than patients with irritable bowel syndrome and patients with other gastrointestinal deases, respectively patients than normal individual, but there are more characteristics associated with extraversion factor in normal individual than patient groups. There were no significant differences between three groups in openness, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness factors.Conclusion: Personality characteristics of patients with gastrointestinal diseases have implications in many fields of research, etiology and treatment of these disorders.

Introduction: The purpose of the study was to determine the effectiveness of group training positive parenting program (Triple-P) on parent-child relationship in ADHD children aged 4-10 years old.Method: The statistical population consisted of mothers of twenty-five children with ADHD. A number of mothers selected from Akhavan and Rofeide Centers in convenience from Akhavan and Rofeide Centers. They attended in 8 sessions (for 2 months; one hour for each session) and trained with positive parenting program. Mothers completed Parent-Child Relationship Scale, before and after participating in training sessions. At the end of 8th session, data collected from pre-test and post-test situations and analyzed by analysis of variance with repeated measures and post-hoc Bonfroni test post-test situations and analyzed by dependent t-test.Results: The results showed that implementing of group training positive parenting program led to reduction in conflict, dependency, also increase in closeness and improvement of mother-child relationship.Conclusion: Group training positive parenting program can improve mother-child relations.

Introduction: People with higher level personality disorder, are a relatively healthy subset of severe personality disorder. They show some of personality disorder’s characteristics but their problems and traits are more moderate and sub threshold of DSM-IV-TR criteria for personality disorder.Their main characteristic is inflexible and maladaptive personality traits that leads to repetitive behavior. Research goal was to diagnose people with higher level personality pathology by using short-term dynamic psychotherapy for higher level personality pathology (DPHP).Method: Current study was a case study. Research sample, comprises from three people who had referred to Meraj consulting institute. All of them were between 20 to 30 years old and each, have been studied in 20 weekly sessions lasting for 50 minutes. Outcome analysis was done in a clinical and case study way.Results: Results showed that diagnosing of higher level avoidant, obsessive-compulsive and depressive personality pathology is possible by using structured and descriptive assessment on the basis of Kernberg’s object relation theory.Conclusion: Our case study showed that diagnosis of higher level personality disorder is possible by using short-term dynamic psychotherapy for higher level personality pathology.

Introduction: This study was aimed to compare the efficacy of Transactional-Analysis (TA) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for pathological symptoms of emotional breakdown in students.Method: The study used a semi-experimental single subject and multiple baselines design. Therefore, six (five female and one male) subjects were chosen using purposive sampling method and were randomly placed in two groups and each group was treated by one of the two methods mentioned above. The subjects completed questionnaires of the love trauma, depression, anxiety, and rumination, in the stage before treatment (baseline) and during the first, third, fifth, seventh, eighth, ninth, eleventh and final session (Session 14) and the three-month and six-month follow-up. They also completed the MCMI-III questionnaire in pre-treatment session to identifying personality disorders. Two methods, clinical significance and recovery percent formula are used for data analysis.Results: The results showed that both transactional analysis and cognitive behavioral therapy have been effective in improving the pathological symptoms of emotional breakdown and comparison of scores suggests that transactional analysis has been able to make more significant and more stable changes. But mental health scores were nearly identical in both treatments.Conclusion: Transactional analysis, with regard to its different and deeper technical therapeutic prosecure in comparison with Cognitive behavioral therapy, has a better and more constant efficacy on morbid pathological symptoms of emotional breakdown in students.