The Effectiveness of Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP (in symptoms depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress and guilt felling in Bereaved people from the disease COVID-19

The 2019 Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) outbreak has been declared an international public health emergency on January 30, 2020 by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the disease. Along with its high infectivity and fatality rates, the 2019 Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) has caused psychiatric manifestations across the different strata of the society. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the Effectiveness of Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) in symptoms depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress and guilt felling in Bereaved people from the disease COVID-19.

The current study was a quasi-experimental with pre-test، post-test and follow-up design. The sample of this study was 30 bereaved people due to Covid 19 disease in Agahesh Clinic in Karaj who were selected by the center psychiatrist and structured interview..Patients were selected by an experienced psychiatrist and Structured Clinical Interview. Patients were randomly assigned either experimental (n=15) or control groups (n=15). Participants completed the BDI-II, BAI, Mississippi PTSD Scale and Guilty felling Scale in the pre-test، post-test and follow-up. The experimental group received the Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) for fifteen 90-minute sessions. Data were analyzed by analysis of variance with repeated measurements.

The findings of this study showed that Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) after 15 sessions had significant effects in symptoms depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress and guilt felling of the experimental group compared to the control group.

The results of the current study showed that Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) was an effective strategy to improve the in symptoms depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress and guilt felling in Bereaved people from the disease COVID-19 and can be used as an effective therapeutic approach.