Comparing the Effectiveness of Behavioral Activation and Mode Deactivation Therapy on Antisocial Core Beliefs and Social Problem Solving in Adolescent Boys with High Social Anxiety

Social anxiety is one of the most debilitating anxiety disorders, the symptoms of which begin at the beginning of adolescence and continue until the later periods of development. This disorder creates disorders in personal life, beliefs, interactions, work life, and other functional aspects of a person. Therefore, identifying effective interventions in patients is of particular importance. The purpose of the present study was to determine the effectiveness of behavioral activation and mode deactivation therapies on antisocial core beliefs and solving the social problem of 15-18-year-old boys with high social anxiety. The current research was a semi-experimental type of pre-test, post-test, and a two-month follow-up period with a control group. The statistical population included all students aged 15 to 18 with social anxiety in the 2nd education district of Isfahan in the academic years 2021 and 2022. For this purpose, using a multi-stage cluster random sampling method, 600 students were screened from among boys' high schools in the 2nd education district of Isfahan by implementing Paklak's social anxiety scale adolescent (2004). They were randomly assigned to two experimental groups (20 people each) and a control group (20 people). The people in the experimental groups participated in parallel and simultaneous treatment sessions of behavioral activation and mode deactivation; But for the control group, there was no intervention. The measurement tools included short form-compound core beliefs questionnaire by Apsche & De-Meo (2012) and a social problem-solving inventory by Drzila et al. (2002). To analyze the data, the statistical method of analysis of variance of repeated measurements and Bonferroni's posthoc test was used in SPSS-24 software. The results showed that behavioral activation therapy on social problem solving and mode deactivation therapy on antisocial core beliefs had stronger effectiveness than other treatment methods for 15-18-year-old boys with social anxiety and the effects of the interventions were stable over time (p<0.01). The findings of this research emphasize the importance of paying attention to antisocial core beliefs and social solving problems in adolescents with high social anxiety and have important practical implications for therapeutic interventions for adolescents with social anxiety.