Comparison of the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy and neurofeedback on reduction of anxiety symptoms in patients with Generalized anxiety disorder in Dezful

Research has shown that early detection and intervention of generalized anxiety disorder can help to minimize symptoms and slow its progression. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy and neurofeedback therapy on reducing anxiety symptoms in patients with generalized anxiety disorder in Dezful.

The research method was experimental with pre-test-post-test design with control group. The statistical population of the study consisted of all patients with generalized anxiety disorder referred to counseling centers in Dezful. Thirty people from the community were selected by purposive sampling and randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. In all three groups, patients' anxiety disorders were assessed through the 7-item General Anxiety Scale (GAD-7), both experimental groups were treated for 8 sessions and each session for one hour. Due to non-observance of the assumptions of analysis of covariance, the data were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance and SPSS software.

The results showed that cognitive-behavioral and neurofeedback therapies were able to reduce the symptoms of generalized anxiety compared to the control group (p <0.01) and also the effect of neurofeedback therapy on reducing the symptoms of generalized anxiety was greater (p <0.01).

According to the obtained results, cognitive-behavioral and neurofeedback therapies can be used to reduce the symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder.