The Effect of Psychodrama intervention Cognitive regulation of positive and negative emotions in Panic Disorder

Psychodrama intervention is a roleplaying technique encouraging individuals to express, modulate, and control their emotions. This study aimed to investigate the effect of psychodrama on cognitive regulation of positive and negative emotions in people with panic disorder in Yazd, Iran.

This semi-experimental study was conducted using a preand post-design test with a control group. The study population consisted of all individuals with panic disorder referring to Yazd counseling and psychological centers in 2019. The sample consisted of 30 individuals who were selected through the available sampling method and randomly divided into experimental and control groups. The pre-test was taken, and the participants completed the Granfski Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. Moreover, the experimental group received ten 45-min psychotherapy sessions. After the intervention, both groups were re-tested using the mentioned questionnaire. The data were analyzed using ANCOVA.

The results showed a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of the positive cognitive emotion regulation (P=0.03) and negative cognitive emotion regulation (P=0.02). Moreover, the mean post-test score revealed that the experimental group outperformed the control group.

It can be concluded that psychodrama intervention can be effective in cognitive regulation of positive and negative emotions in individuals with panic disorder.