Effectiveness of Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) on the Social Anxiety of Mothers of Children with Asperger Syndrome

The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of intensive short-term dynamic psychotherapy (ISTDP) on the social anxiety of mothers of children with Asperger syndrome. This study was a controlled quasi-experimental research with a pretest-posttest design. The population consisted of all mothers of children with Asperger syndrome in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, Iran, in 2016. With the collaboration of the Office of Special Education, records of students aging 7-12 years old with Asperger syndrome were examined. Then, 16 mothers of children with Asperger syndrome were selected through convenience sampling and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The standardized Social Anxiety Scale (SAS) was administered as pre- and posttest. The treatment protocol, based on Davanloo approach, was implemented on the experimental group individually twice a week for 12 sessions of 60 minutes each, while the control group received no intervention. Data analysis was conducted using descriptive and inferential statistics (analysis of covariance). The results showed that, after controlling for pretest scores, there is a significant difference between the two groups in social anxiety (p<0.05). It can be concluded that the ISDTP is effective in reducing social anxiety in mothers of children with Asperger syndrome