Journal of Behavior in Clinical Psychology
Year:2012 | Volume:6 | Issue:22|Papers Count:9

Since depression is recognized as one of the most common mental disorders from which a large number of people are suffering, various therapeutic methods are introduced for its treatment. The main purpose of this research was to determine the effectiveness of Michael Ferry’s method of cognitive group therapy in reducing the depression in male prisoners. Using Beck Depression Scale, the researchers diagnosed 16 male prisoners kept in psychotherapy section of Ghom Central Prison as having moderate and severe depression disorders. After the subjects were divided randomly into experimental and control groups, each consisting of 8 subjects (n=8), twelve cognitive group therapy sessions, each lasting ninety minutes was held for the experimental group based on Ferry’s method. Then both groups completed Beck Depression Scale as the post test. The results of the study showed significant difference between the mean of the post test scores of these two groups. Therefore, it could be concluded that cognitive group therapy was effective in reducing depression in male prisoners based on Ferry’s method.

Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience. As a mental experience it can provoke different expressions and emotional disorders. Drawing attention toward painful stimuli is regarded as one of the significant features of feeling pain. The main objective of this research was to study selective attention in patients with muscular-skeletal complaints and healthy individuals. In so doing, Fifty patients were selected from two hospitals of Imam Khomeini and Atieh in the city of Tehran through availability sampling method and then they were matched with 50 healthy individuals in terms of demographical point of view. The Dot-probe Software Task was administered to both groups. MANOVA findings suggested a significant difference in the selective attention between musculoskeletal patients and healthy individuals. Furthermore, both groups displayed significant differences in focusing attention on painful congruent and incongruent stimuli, non-painful congruent and incongruent stimuli, and lack attention.

Psychological well-being refers to an individual perception of the degree of coordination between his/her objectives on one hand and the consequences of his/her performance on the other hand. This process which is a continuous appraisal could result in the internal and rather stable satisfaction in the lifespan of an individual. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between hopefulness and resiliency with the psychological well-being of the students. Given this, four hundred students (200 males and 200 females) from Tabriz University were selected by cluster sampling method and their scores of hopefulness, resiliency and psychological well-being were calculated. Results of correlation coefficients and step by step regression analysis indicated that hopefulness, resiliency and psychological well-being are significantly and positively correlated. Furthermore, the variations of psychological wellbeing of the students could be determined by predictive variables. Finally, it could be concluded that individuals with higher scores in hopefulness and resiliency revealed higher level of psychological well-being.

Gray offered a biological model of personality consisting of three brain-behavior systems based on individual differences. These three systems provoke different reactions like fear, anxiety and so on. The aim of this investigation was to examine the differences of the pattern of activities in the addicts and non-addicts. In so doing, a group of 96 addicted subjects (48 men and 48 women) were matched with a group of 96 non-addicted one (48 men and 48 women) and Gray-Wilson Personality Questionnaire was administered to them. The results of the study demonstrated that both male and female addicts had higher scores in Behavioral Activation System (BAS), in comparison with non-addicts. In addition, no significant difference could be detected between Behavior Inhibition System (BIS) and Fight- Flight System (FFD) scores of the groups. Finally, the results of the study confirmed the hypothesis that addicts possess the hyperactivity of BIS.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), is a form of psychotherapy developed to resolve the problems of those individuals who suffer from trauma related disorders such as exposure to distressing events and memories, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, death of one’s beloved and other emotional disorders. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of EMDR in reducing anxiety in university students. In so doing, thirty female university students were selected from Islamic Azad University, Kerman Branch by simple random sampling method. Then they were divided into experimental and control groups, each consisting of 15 subjects. All subjects were initially assessed in terms of anxiety levels. After that the experimental group participated in 3 ninety-minute sessions of EMDR and their anxiety level were assessed. The results of the covariance analysis of anxiety scores indicated that anxiety level of experimental group who underwent treatment was higher than that of the control group.

Work burnout is regarded as one of the fundamental factors in reducing efficiency and performance, and bringing about loss of man power and physical and mental side effects, particularly, in jobs related to human services. The aim of this research was to determine how group logo therapy could reduce job burnout. In so doing, twenty eight school teachers who had the highest level of burnout were selected randomly from among male school teachers in secondary schools in the city of Tabriz and assigned to experimental and control groups. Then the experimental group underwent 8 ninety-minute sessions of group logo therapy. The results of the analysis of covariance revealed that logo therapy sessions reduced job burnout significantly. In other words, logo therapy seems to be a suitable method in reducing job burnout.

Problem Solving is a cognitive-behavioral process through which the individual can recognize and initiate effective and adaptive strategies in coping with daily struggles. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between problem solving styles and subjective well-being in the university students. Given this, four hundred students (200 males and 200 females) were randomly selected from among undergraduate students in Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch, and assessed in terms of problem solving styles and subjective wellbeing. Data analysis indicated that 63% of variance of subjective well-being could be explained by problem solving styles and regression coefficient of the problem solving styles could significantly predict the subjective well-being variations. The results also suggested that problem solving styles employed by university students when confronting problematic situations leads to adopting a type of life style based on innovation or frustration which is in turn regarded as a deciding factor in subjective well-being of them.

During the past decades, AIDS has been the most important threat to human’s health all over the world. Based on the reports of WHO, six people are dying per minute because of HIV infection. The purpose of this research was to study the effectiveness of hope-oriented group therapy in improving quality of life in a group of male HIV+ patients. In so doing, twenty male HIV+ patients who had visited Emam Khomeini Hospital in 2009 were selected using availability sampling method, randomly assigned to experimental and control groups, and assessed in terms of quality of life. Then the experimental group underwent 8 two-hour sessions of hope-oriented group therapy. The results of the analysis of covariance showed that the scores of the quality of life of the experimental group improved in comparison with those of control group after treatment. Therefore, it could be concluded that hope-oriented group therapy improves the quality of life in males suffering from HIV.