نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی

نویسنده

Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran,

کلیدواژه‌ها

عنوان مقاله [English]

The Impact of Positive Psychotherapy on Decreasing the College Students' Stress, Anxiety, Depression and Increasing their Well-being

نویسنده [English]

  • Mahdi Khanjani

Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran, e-mail: khanjani.mahdi@gmail.com

چکیده [English]

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of positive psychotherapy on decreasing the students' stress, anxiety, depression and increasing their well-being. In this study, an   experimental research method was adopted using a pretest-posttest control group design. A total of 34 undergraduate students were sampled out of 1200 students in academic year 2013-2014 University of Shahid Beheshti. Using convenience sampling, the participants were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. The instruments employed in the study included Depression/ Anxiety and Stress Scale Lovibond (1995) and positive psychotherapy inventory (Rashid & Seligman, 2013). The positive psychotherapy was trained to the experimental group on a weekly basis during six two-hour sessions. The results of covariance indicated that positive psychotherapy was effective in decreasing stress, anxiety, depression and increasing the students' well-being and that their permanence was observed two months after the experiment. Because the early period of the students' life is stressful, and as the results represented, positive psychotherapy can be beneficial for students as an effective way to strengthen the psychological resources and mental health.

کلیدواژه‌ها [English]

  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • positive psychotherapy
  • stress
  • flourish
Sahebi, A., Salari, M. J., and Salari, R. S. (2005). Validation of the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) for Iranian population. Developmental psychology: the Iranian psychologist. 4, 1, 299-312. (Persian)
Asgharipoor, N., Asgharnejad, Farid. A., Arshadi, H., & Sahebi, A. (2010). A comparative study on the effectiveness of positive psychotherapy and group cognitive-behavioral therapy for the patients suffering from major depressive disorder. Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, 6, 33-41.
Barati Sedeh, F. (2009). The Effectiveness of Positive Psychology Interventions in Increasing Happiness, Life Satisfaction and meaning in Life and decreasing Depression: A Model for Action. PhD thesis, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Allameh Tabataba’i University. (Persian)
Bay, M. & Csillic, A. (2012). Comparing Positive Psychotherapy with cognitive behavioral therapy in treating depression. Unpublished manuscript. Paris West University Nanterre La Défense (Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense).
Bolier, L., Haverman, M., Westerhof, G. J., Riper, H., Smit, F., and Bohlmeijer, E. (2013). Positive psychology interventions: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled studies. BMC Public Health, 13:119. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-13-119.
Duckworth, A. L., Steen, T. A., & Seligman, M.E.P. (2005). Positive psychology in clinical practice. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 1, 629-646.
Fredrickson, B. L., & Branigan, C. (2005). Positive emotions broaden the scope of attention and thought–action repertoires. Cognition and Emotion, 19, 313–332.
Gunney, S. (2011). The positive psychotherapy inventory (PPTI): reliability and validity stydy in Turkish population. Procedia- social and behavioral sciences. 29, 81-86. Joseph, S., & Linley, A. P. (2005). Positive psychological approaches to therapy. Counseling and Psychotherapy Research, 5, 5–10.
Khanjani, M., Shahidi, Sh., Fathabadi, J., Mazaheri, M. A., & Shokri, O. (2014). Factor structure and psychometric properties of the positive psychotherapy Inventory (PPTI). Journal of Applied Psychology. 5, 7, 1-20. (Persian)
Lü, W., Wang, Z., & Liu, Y. (2013). A pilot study on changes of cardiac vagal tone in individuals with low trait positive affect: The effect of positive psychotherapy. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 88, 213-217.
Meyer, P. S., Johnson, D. P., Parks, A. C., Iwanski, C. & Penn, D. L. (2012). Positive living: A pilot study of group positive psychotherapy for people with schizophrenia. Journal of Positive Psychology, 7, 239-248.
Mongrain, M. and Anselmo- Matthews, T. (2012). Do positive psychology exercises work? A replication of Seligman et al. (2005). Journal of Clinical Psychology, 68, 382-389.
Omidi, A., Yaqubi, H., peyravi, H., HasanAbadi, H & Zafar, M. (2012). Comparison of mental health of new entrance students and high level students: preliminary results of a national study.  Proceedings of the 6th Student Seminar on mental Hygiene.  Counseling Office of Ministry of Science, Research & Technology. (persian).
Page, K., & Vella-Brodrick, D. (2012). The working for wellness program: RCT of an employee well-being intervention. Journal of Happiness Studies, 1–25.
Parks-Sheiner, A. C. (2009). Positive Psychotherapy: Building a model of empirically supported self-help. Dissertation
Rashid, T., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2013). Positive psychotherapy: A treatment manual. New York: Oxford University Press.
Rashid, T., & Uliaszeck, A. Stevanovski, S., Gulamani, T, Kazemi, F. (2013). Comparing Effectiveness of Positive Psychotherapy (PPT) with Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT): Results of a Randomized Clinical Trial. Poster presented at the Third International Positive Psychology Congress, Los Angeles, CA.
Rashid, T., Anjum, A., & Lennox, C. (2006). Positive psychotherapy for middle school children. Unpublished manuscript, Toronto District School Board. Results presented in: Rashid, T., & Anjum, A. (2008). Positive psychotherapy for young adults and children. In J.R.Z. Abela & B.L. Hankin (Eds), Handbook of depression in children and adolescents (pp. 250–287). New York: Guilford Press.
Sarmad, Z., Bazargan, A., Hejazi, E. (2004). Research Methods in Behavioral Sciences. Tehran: Agah Press.
Sahebi, A., Asqari, M, J., Salari, R. (2005). Validation of Depression Stress Anxiety Scale (DASS-21) for Iranian population. Developmental Psychology (Iranian Psychologists) No. 4. (Persian)
Seligman, M.E.P. (2002). Positive psychology, positive prevention, and positive therapy. In C.R Snyder, & S. J. Lopez (Eds), the handbook of positive psychology. New York: Oxford Press.
Seligman, M. E. P. (2002). Authentic happiness: Using the new positive psychology to realize your potential for lasting fulfillment. New York: Free Press.
Seligman, M. E. P., Steen, T., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology progress: Empirical validation of interventions. American Psychologist, 60 (5), 410, 414, 419.
Seligman, M. E. P., Rashid, T., & Parks, A. C. (2006). Positive psychotherapy. American Psychologist, 61 (8), 774-778/781-786.
Seligman, M. E. P., (2012). Flourish: A visionary new understanding of happiness and well-Being. New York: Free Press.
Sin, N. L; & Lyubomirsky, S. (2009). Enhancing well-being and alleviation depressive symptoms with positive psychology Interventions: A practice- friendly meta-analysis. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 65 (5), 467-487.
Vella-Brodrick, D. A., Park, N. & Peterson, C. (2009). Three ways to be happy: Pleasure, engagement, and meaning: Findings from Australian and US samples. Social Indicators Research, 90,165-179.