The Comparison of the Effectiveness between the Play Therapy and the Life Skills Training on Social Anxiety in Preschool Children

Social anxiety is the most common anxiety disorder that is evidenced by the high prevalence and absence of early diagnosis in many children, which sometimes lead them to refuse to go to school. Two groups of experimental were conducted in the statistical population of preschool children referring to counseling and psychology clinics.30 children were selected as sample from the clinics and completed the social anxiety questionnaire and among those who had the highest anxiety score. Subjects were selected and randomly assigned to different groups. The sample consisted of 8 individuals in the first independent variable group (play therapy) and 8 individuals in the second independent variable group (life skills training) for 8 sessions of 45 minutes. Results showed the mean scores. Pre-test and post-test were significantly different in the two groups of play therapy (0.05 level of significance) and life skills (0.01 level of significance) and play therapy and life skills were effective in reducing social anxiety (anxiety disorders and its components). There was also a significant difference between the mean scores of anxiety disorders in the two groups only at separation anxiety (significance level 0.01). Therefore, play therapy and life skills are two useful ways to treat and reduce social anxiety.