Effectiveness of metacognitive therapy on resiliency in the people with generalized anxiety

The incidence of generalized anxiety disorder severely damages individuals' psychological, cognitive, communication and social processes and reduces their resilience. But does meta-cognitive therapy help improve resiliency in people with generalized anxiety disorder?

Therefore the present study was conducted aiming to investigate the effectiveness of metacognitive therapy on resiliency in the people with generalized anxiety.

The research method was quasi-experimental with pretest, posttest, control group and two-month follow-up period. The statistical population of the study included all the people with social anxiety referring to consultation centers in the city of Tehran in 2017. Non-probable purposive sampling method and random replacement were used in the present study. After selecting the sample size and replacing them into experimental and control groups, the experimental group received 10 ninety-minute sessions of therapy interventions during three months once a week. The applied questionnaires in the study included generalized anxiety questionnaire (Spitser, et.al, 2006), resiliency (coner, 2004). The data from the study were analyzed through repeated measurement ANOVA.

The results of data analysis showed that metacognitive therapy has been effective on resiliency in the patients suffering from generalized anxiety disorder (P<0/001). Moreover the results showed that this therapy could significantly maintain its effect in time (P<0/001). The degree of statistical effect of metacognitive therapy on resiliency in the people with generalized anxiety was 58%.

Based on the findings of the present study, it can be concluded that metacognitive therapy utilizes techniques such as postponing worry, challenging beliefs about risk, stopping avoidance behaviors, and has appropriate clinical efficacy to improve the resiliency of patients with generalized anxiety disorder.