The Effect of Behavior Therapy on the Treatment of Mental Well-Being and Self-Esteem of Detainees’ Leading of Innocence

In today's modern and complex society, the issue of health is important. The World Health Organization defines mental health as a state of complete social, mental, physical, and spiritual well-being. The psychological health of prisoners and detainees and the provision of appropriate services to them have attracted much attention from experts. Regarding the detention of individuals, there are two types of sentences, one: People who are actually convicted and two: People who are found innocent in the investigation process, who have the so-called principle of innocence. In the term of jurisprudence, innocence means that the principle of innocence of individuals should be considered. Innocence literally means liberation and acquittal, and is one of the most fundamental human principles to be practiced. The principle of innocence is one of the most important and influential principles not only in the laws of our country but also in international laws and conventions. From the point of view of many jurists, the principle of innocence is one of the fundamental rights of individuals in any society. Anyone accused of a crime shall be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to the law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defense. Also, no one shall be held guilty of any penal offense on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offense, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Also, no one will be sentenced to a punishment greater than the one prescribed for committing a crime, and if a person is innocent, it is natural that this person will suffer various injuries. Studies show that the prevalence of mental disorders in detainees is higher than in the general population. One of the most common mental disorders in detainees is the issue of self-esteem and mental health that is damaged. Psychotherapists assist in the psychotherapy process by using conversational, interpretive, listening, rewarding, and role modeling techniques to treat a wide range of psychological problems. Behavior therapy is based on the belief that all human behavior is "learned" and therefore unhealthy behaviors can be changed. Therefore, behavioral therapy focuses mainly on the current problems of patients and how to change these problems. Cognitive behavior therapy is a very popular approach in the treatment of mental disorders. This approach combines behavioral therapy with cognitive therapy. Cognitive behavior therapy focuses on how people's thoughts and beliefs affect the formation of their feelings and behaviors. Cognitive-behavioral therapy often addresses the patient's current problems and how to solve them. The long-term goal of cognitive behavior therapy is to transform unhealthy ways of thinking and behaving into healthy thoughts and behaviors. For example, the results of various studies have shown that psychological well-being is associated with behavior-based adaptation. Due to the adverse consequences of arresting individuals, a therapeutic approach should be sought to remove individuals from these symptoms and help them regain self-esteem and increase well-being, so the present study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of group therapy Determined self-esteem and psychological well-being of detainees.

The present study was a quasi-experimental with a pretest-posttest design with a control group. The statistical population in this study was all detainees in the judiciary of Mazandaran province who were arrested in 1399 and so that these people were innocent and acquitted, which was equal to 80 people. The sampling method in this study was that by distributing announcements in the provincial judiciary, detainees with detention experience and the principle of innocence of the law were asked to attend counseling centers to participate in group sessions of behavioral therapy. Inclusion criteria include: (1). Willingness to attend meetings, (2). At least 2 months of detention experience, (3). Not having any previous physical or mental illness, and Exclusion criteria include: (1). Taking any type of antidepressant, calm Ward, etc., (2). Occurrence of any kind of unfortunate incident for the person after the experience of detention. Considering the entry and exit criteria, 24 people were selected as a sample and randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups (12 people in each group). Then Reef (1989) and Coopersmith (1981) psychological well-being questionnaires were completed by two groups. The experimental group underwent behavioral therapy for 10 sessions, each session lasting 90 minutes, and the control group did not receive any training. Finally, the collected data were analyzed using an independent t-test.

The results showed that there was a significant difference between the post-test scores of self-esteem and psychological well-being of the experimental and control groups and behavioral therapy had a positive effect on the experimental group (p <0.05).

The results showed that behavioral therapy can be used as an effective treatment to increase self-esteem and psychological well-being of detainees; therefore, it is important to pay attention to psychotherapy methods to increase the level of self-esteem and mental health of detainees. Today, cognitive-behavioral therapy has taken first place in the psychological treatment of many mental illnesses and its effectiveness has been shown in many controlled studies. Cognitive behavior therapy is in some cases more effective than other approaches to psychotherapy. Behavior therapy is a term for several different therapies, all of which are based on learning theory. Behavior therapists believe that maladaptive behaviors are behaviors that a person learns to cope with stress and can be replaced by more appropriate answers with the help of techniques that have emerged from laboratory work on learning. While psychoanalysis seeks to understand how a person's past conflicts affect his or her behavior, behavior therapy deals directly with the behavior itself. Unlike psychoanalysis, which seeks to change personality, behavioral therapy has a relatively limited purpose, which is to change maladaptive behaviors in certain situations. In addition, behavior therapists pay more attention to the scientific validity of their techniques than psychoanalysts. Behavior therapists have not paid much attention to presenting a theory about personality. They have primarily accepted the assumption that most human behaviors are learned and therefore behaviors can be modified or changed altogether using learning principles.