The Effectiveness of Existential Therapy on Death Anxiety and Meaning of Life in Recovered Patients of Covid-19

Due to the high physiological and psychological damage of COVID-19 patients after discharge from the hospital and the need for interventional approaches, the present study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of existential therapy on death anxiety and the meaning of life in recovered COVID-19 patients.

The research was a quasi-experimental design with pre-test and post-test and control group. The statistical population in this study included all recovered patients of COVID-19 in 2020 in Urmia, Iran. To select the sample, the patientschr('39') files were checked in the counseling center of Taleghani Hospital. After that, 30 of the recovered patients that had the inclusion criteria were randomly assigned to either experimental or control groups, each group consisting of 15 individuals. The experimental group received ten sessions of online existential therapy whereas the control group received no intervention. For the collection of data, the Meaning of Life (MLQ) and Death Anxiety Questionnaire (DAQ) were used. The collected data were analyzed using single-factor analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).

The results of the comparison of the post-tests of the groups indicated that scores of death anxiety (p<0.01) and meaning of life (p<0.01) of experimental and control groups differed significantly. The analysis of data showed that existential therapy reduced death anxiety and increased the meaning of life among recovered patients of COVID-19.

Existential therapy is an effective approach in dealing with critical situations. The results of the present study can be used to improve the perplexities related to death and the meaning of life during the COVID-19 pandemic.