Investigating the Effectiveness of Group-Based Reality Therapy on Direct and Indirect Self-Destructive Behaviors in Adolescent Girls Who Experienced Suicide Attempts

In recent years, due to the increase in suicide attempts and the resulting social problems, the need to pay attention to planning for suicide prevention is felt more than ever. The aim of the present research was to investigate the effectiveness of group-based reality therapy on direct and indirect self-destructive behaviors in adolescent girls who have attempted suicide.

This was a semi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest design and a control group. The statistical population included all high school adolescents who had attempted suicide in the first and second high schools of the district 17 of Tehran, Iran, in the academic year of 2021-2022. There were 65 of them, of which 16 people were randomly selected in two experimental (8 people) and control (8 people) groups using available sampling method. The experimental group received 8 one-hour sessions of reality therapy training. The control group did not receive any training. Klonsky and Glenn utilized questionnaire on self-destructive behaviors to gather data. The obtained information was analyzed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).

The reality therapy approach had a significant effect on reducing direct and indirect self-harming behaviors, and the effectiveness of reality therapy on direct self-destructive behaviors was more than indirect self-destructive behaviors.

Reality therapy can be effective in controlling the behavior of teenagers and fostering their sense of responsibility towards their work.