The Effect of Psychodrama Therapy on Psychopathological Status of Veterans with Chronic Schizophrenia

One of the group psychological rehabilitation methods is psychodrama therapy. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of psychodrama therapy on psychopathological status of veterans with chronic schizophrenia. The study was a experimental design applying pretest-posttest methods. 38 veterans with chronic schizophrenia hospitalized in Sa’adat-Abad mental hospital were selected by purposive sampling, were evaluated using The Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), and were randomly divided into two different groups of test and control. They were taken the SCL-90R test. Then, group psychodrama therapy sessions were held for the test group for 1 month. After the sessions ended, both groups were given SCL-90R test again for both groups. Analysis of covariance was used to analyze the data. The statistical analysis demonstrated that there was a significant difference between the two groups in 8 dimensions out of total 9 Scl-90R dimensions, including physical complaint, autogenous obsession, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobia, and paranoid ideation. After psychodrama therapy, the results of the post-test showed that the state of veterans with chronic schizophrenia was better than that of the pre-test. However, there was no significant difference between two groups in the psychoticism dimensions. Psychodrama therapy, as a non-physical way of rehabilitation, can promote mental health of veterans with chronic schizophrenia.