The effectiveness of group cognitive-behavioral therapy on reduction of anxiety of disabled veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Eight years of imposed war between Iran and Iraq has caused a considerable number of soldiers and disabled veterans to experience symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In the present study, the effect of group cognitive-behavioral therapy on reduction PTSD caused anxiety has been studied.

This applied study was conducted in the form of a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test, post-test design and a control group at Sadr psychiatric hospital in Tehran during the years 2017-18. A total of 30 disabled veterans with PTSD were selected through an available sampling method, and divided into two groups: experimental and control group. The experimental group underwent cognitive-behavioural therapy for 14 sessions. The depression, anxiety and stress scales (DASS-21) was used for data collection. Data were analysed by analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and Levene’s test.

After modifying pre-test scores, the difference between experimental and control groups was significant. Based on the one-way ANCOVA carried out on the subjects’ total scores, there was a significant difference between experimental and control groups in the “anxiety”  variable (P < 0.05) and (F=19.372).

This intervention showed that cognitive-behavioural therapy had reduced anxiety among disabled veterans with PTSD.