Comparison of the effectiveness of child-centered play therapy and filialtherapy on the levels of theory of mind in children with separation anxiety disorder

Various studies have been conducted on the effectiveness of filial-therapy and child-centered play in improving childrenchr('39')s emotional and behavioral disorders, but little research has been done to compare the effectiveness of these two methods on theory of mind.

The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of these two types of treatments on the levels of theory of mind. in children with separation anxiety disorder.

The method was quasi-experimental with pretest and posttest in three groups. The statistical population consisted of all female students (2732 students) in the fifth and sixth grades of Babol in the second semester (2018-2019). Based on the entry and exit criteria, 45 people were selected by convenience sampling as a statistical sample and randomly divided into three experimental groups and control group, each group consisting of 15 students. The first experimental group received child-centered play therapy with Axline approach (1969) in sixteen 45-minute sessions, the second experimental group received filial therapy training (Landreth, 1993) in ten 2 hour sessions. The research instruments were Questionnaire (d), the children Symptoms inventory (CSI-4) and the Stearrman Theory of Mind Questionnaire (1992). Data were analyzed by multivariate analysis of covariance using SPSS.

The results showed that both interventions Were effective in improving the levels of theory of mind in children with separation anxiety disorder. Moreover, there was significant difference between the effectiveness of the experimental groups of filial therapy and child-centered play therapy at level 1, and the filial therapy was more effective. But there was no significant difference between the two experimental groups at levels 2 and 3 (p< 0/05).

The results showed that parenting play therapy training can be considered as a better alternative in improving the levels of mind theory as well as improving the psychological symptoms of children with separation anxiety disorder; This study also confirms that timely identification and treatment of this disorder should be one of the important activities of child mental health professionals so planning to prevent and treat the disorder is a priority.