Comparative Efficacy of Transactional Analysis Versus Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Pathological Symptoms of Emotional Breakdown in Students

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. 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. 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. 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