The Effectiveness of Active Music Therapy and Gestalt Therapy

Test anxiety، is a type of situational anxiety which bears a close relationship to the academic performance and progress of students. The present study aims to compare the effectiveness of active music therapy and Gestalt therapy in decreasing test anxiety. In so ding، in a semi-experimental design، involving a pre-test and post-test، a boy junior high school was selected from among junior high schools in Shahriar by using available sampling method. Then، Abolghasemi''s Test Anxiety Questionnaire was administered to the sample، out of which 24 subjects who had received the highest scores were chosen and randomly divided into 3 groups namely Music Therapy، Gestalt Therapy and Control groups. The first two groups (Music Therapy، and Gestalt Therapy groups) underwent active music therapy and Gestalt therapy for 8 sessions، while control group did not receive any treatment. The data were analyzed by using ANCOVA and Scheffe''s Posthoc Test. The results indicated that both active music therapy and Gestalt therapy were effective in decreasing test anxiety but there was not a significant difference between their effectiveness.