Effectiveness of Paradox Therapy on COVID-19 Anxiety in Adult Population in Jahrom

Since COVID-19 is a new disease with devastating effects worldwide, its emergence and spread aroused confusion, anxiety, and fear among the public.

The present study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of paradox therapy on the COVID-19 anxiety in adult population in Jahrom, Iran.

This research was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest design and a two-month follow-up. The research population encompassed all individuals willing to participate in the present study who were residing in Jahrom during 2020-2021. According to the COVID-19 Anxiety Scale, 30 participants with high levels of COVID-19 anxiety were selected using the convenience samplingmethod and were randomly assigned to experimental (n = 15) and control (n = 15) groups. The experimental group received eight sessions of paradox therapy; however, the control group remained on the waiting list. The research tools included structured clinical interviews and the COVID-19 Anxiety Scale. Finally, the collected data were analyzed using Friedman’s statistical method.

The results showed that paradox therapy was effective in decreasing COVID-19 anxiety (P = 0.001) and its psychological (P = 0.001) and physical (P = 0.002) symptoms, and the scores of the COVID-19-induced psychological and physical symptoms in the posttest phase were significantly lower in the intervention group than the control group (P < 0.001). The decrease was noticed in the follow-up phase as well.

According to the results, paradox therapy can effectively reduce anxiety and its psychological and physical symptoms due to COVID-19.