Efficacy of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy on Worry and Cognitive Avoidance in Anxious Students of Universities

Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent psychological disorders in common population. The present study was designed to investigate the effect of mindfulness based cognitive therapy (MBCT) on worry and cognitive avoidance in anxious students of universities.
This study is quasi-experimental with the pretest-posttest design. 30 students who have taken STAI diagnostic test (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory) and shown the test anxiety symptoms were chosen by convenient sampling method and were randomly divided into two equal (15 participants) groups: experimental and control groups. The experimental group was receiving mindfulness based cognitive therapy for 8 sessions while the control group did not receive any intervention.
The obtained data were analyzed by covariance method (ANCOVA). The results of this study indicate that MBCT is effective and useful strategies in reducing of worry and cognitive avoidance in anxious students.
According to the results, MBCT can be effective in decreasing of anxiety by reducing of worry and cognitive avoidance.