EFFECTIVENESS OF PSYCHOTHERAPY TRANSACTION ANALYSIS IN DECREASING SYMPTOMS OF GENERALIZED ANXIETY DISORDER

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a common psychiatric disorder. Although it seems that psychotherapy transaction analysis has a significant role in reducing the symptoms of anxiety, but studies about the effectiveness of these interventions on the GAD symptoms are not frequent. This study was aimed to study the efficacy of psychotherapy transactional analysis on decreasing symptoms of GAD. This semi experimental study was conducted on 20 female patients that were selected from all GAD patients who referred to Urmia psychological clinic and psychiatrist’s office during spring and summer of 2014. The patients were selected through the availability sampling method and were randomly divided into an experimental and a control group. A pre test and post test was performed. The patients answered GAD questionnaire. While the control group was just followed, the experimental group undertook 8-12 sessions of transaction analysis therapy. Finally, both groups answered GAD questionnaire again. Analysis of the data involved both descriptive and inferential statistics including mean, standard deviation, Cronbach, t test, and analysis of co-variance. It was revealed that there were significant differences between the control group and the experimental group since the level of GAD decreased. (P≤0.01) The results showed that transactional analysis therapy is effective in decreasing the symptoms of GAD.