The Effectiveness of Filial Therapy on Social Acceptability and Anxiety Sensitivity of Children with Symptoms of Self-Harm Disorder

The present study was conducted with the aim of the effectiveness of philial therapy on social acceptability and anxiety sensitivity of children with symptoms of self-destructive mood disorder.

It was a semi-experimental study with a pre-test-post-test design with a control group and a follow-up period. The statistical population included 9-12-year-old children with symptoms of suicidal mood disorder in Isfahan city. 30 children with symptoms of self-inflicted mood disorder and their mothers were selected by purposive sampling and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group received Filial Landreth play therapy intervention (2013) during two months in 8 sessions of 60 minutes. Research tools included Ford and Robin's (1970) social acceptability questionnaire and Tsao et al.'s (2006) anxiety sensitivity questionnaire. The data obtained from the research was analyzed by the method of variance analysis with repeated measurements using SPSS-29 statistical software.

The results showed that the filial therapy intervention had a significant effect on the social acceptability and anxiety sensitivity of children with symptoms of self-destructive mood disorder (P<0.001). In this way, this intervention was able to lead to the improvement of social acceptability and the reduction of anxiety sensitivity of these children.

Based on the findings, it can be concluded that philial therapy using techniques such as lectures, discussion, role playing, group processes and supervision can be an effective treatment to improve social acceptability and reduce anxiety sensitivity of children with the symptoms of self-inflicted mood disorder should be used.