The Effectiveness of Treatment Based on Mentalization on Internalizing and Externalizing Disorders and Altruism of Students with Bullying Behaviors

The research until today indicates that bullying occurs in every school with different degrees and intensities, which causes physical and psychological damage to the bully and the victim; therefore, the aim of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of mentalization-based treatment on internalizing and externalizing disorders and altruism of students with bullying behaviors. The research method was semi-experimental with a pre-test-post-test design with a control group. The statistical population included male students with bullying behaviors aged 12 to 15 years old in Tehran's district 4 schools in the academic year 2023-2024. A number of 30 students with bullying behaviors were selected by purposeful sampling and randomly assigned to two experimental and control groups (15 people in each group). Research tools included Harter's Bullying Questionnaire (1985), Achenbach's Children's Behavioral Problems (1991) and Russian altruism (2004). Mentalization-based therapy was implemented in 10 60-minute sessions for the experimental group. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance. The results showed that the treatment based on the mentalization of students with bullying behaviors in the variables of internalized and externalized disorders (F=32.75, Eta=0.52, P<0.001) and altruism (F=12.27, Eta=0.39, P>0.001) has an effect. Based on the results of this research, it can be said that the treatment based on mentalization is effective in reducing internalizing and externalizing disorders and increasing the altruism of students with bullying behaviors, and this training can be used to improve their health and the awareness of parents, teachers, administrators and Other professionals from these tutorials can be helpful.