Effectiveness of Psychodrama in Reducing the Psychological Nervous Problems of Students with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

The purpose of this study was to determine and identify the effect of psychodrama on neuropsychological functions of male elementary school students in Salas Babajani earthquake-stricken city.

This study was quasi-experimental, a pre-test/ post-test with a control group. The statistical population of the present study was all-male elementary school students with post-traumatic stress disorder in Salas Babajani city, where four schools were selected. 40 individuals who were selected by purposive sampling method and were randomly divided into two equal groups: experimental group(20 individuals) and control group(20 individuals). The experimental group treated 13 90-minute sessions according to psychodrama therapy(based on Moreno's view) and then the post-test was performed for both groups. The research tools were diagnostic interviews according to DSM-5 criteria to determine post-traumatic stress disorder, a PTSD Questionnaire according to DSM-5 criteria(PCL-5) and Conner’s Psychological Neurology Questionnaire. Data analyzed by mean, standard deviation, Levin's test, and regression slope homogeneity and MANCOVA to test the research hypotheses.

The results indicated that psychodrama could lead to a significant reduction in the rate of neuropsychological functioning problems by 0.52, in children with significant post-traumatic stress disorder level(P <0.001).

Therefore, it can be concluded that psychodrama is an effective treatment method not only to reduce the psychiatric, neurological problems in children, however.