Journal Of Research In Medical Sciences (17357136)19(3)pp. 221-227
Background: Emotion-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (ECBT) is a new form of CBT with emotion regulation components. Th is form of treatment is suggested to be employed to improve dysregulation of anxiety and other kind of emotions in anxious children. Th is study observed and compared the eff ectiveness of CBT and ECBT on anxiety symptoms; sadness and anger management; and cognitive emotion regulation strategies in children with separation anxiety disorder (SAD). Materials and Methods: Th is study is a randomized clinical trial. Subjects were 30 children from 9 to 13-years-old (15 girls and 15 boys) with diagnosis of SAD, being randomly assigned to CBT, ECBT, and control groups (five girls and five boys in each group). Subject children in CBT group participated in 10-h weekly sessions within Coping Cat manual; whereas, subject children in ECBT group contributed in 12-h weekly sessions within ECBT. Th e control group received no treatment. Th e Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED; child and parent forms), Children's Emotion Management Scale (CEMS; anger and sadness forms), and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) tests administered to all subjects in pretest, posttest, and the follow-up measurement (3 months later). Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) repeated measure and Kruskal-Wallis were applied to analyze data by Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software package (v. 20). Results: CBT and ECBT; demonstrated no significant diff erence in reducing separation anxiety and total anxiety symptoms from parent and children's reports. ECBT eff ectively increased anger coping and decreased negative cognitive strategies and dysregulation of anger in children, both in posttest and follow-up. Also, ECBT reduced sadness dysregulation and increased sadness coping, though these significant advantages were lost in 3 months later follow-up. CBT reduced negative cognitive strategies in follow-up and increased sadness coping in posttest. None of treatments aff ected on anger and sadness inhibition and positive cognitive coping in separation anxious children. Conclusion: ECBT, in comparison with CBT; eff ectively improved emotion regulation strategies in children with separation anxiety.
Afshar, H., Adibi, N., Afshari, A., Rohani, S., Saberi, F.
Publication Date: 2013
Journal of Isfahan Medical School (10277595)31(242)pp. 944-953
Background: People, who can identify, understand and express their inner feelings well, cope with negative experiences and adapt with environment and other people successfully. Alexithymia is a personality trait characterized by difficulty in identifying, describing and regulating feelings. Patients with alexithymia, who cannot cope with stress, somatize their emotional disturbance in a variety of medical disorders, particularly dermatologic diseases. Methods: In this prospective case-control study, 63 eligible subjects referring to dermatology clinics of Isfahan University of Medical sciences (Isfahan, Iran) were selected by convenience sampling method and implied case group. Control group was selected from normal population without any skin problem. The General health questionnaire (GHQ), Toronto alexithymia scale (TAS-20) and Coping response index (CRI) were used to compare the variables between the groups. Findings: Alexithymia had association with dermatologic diseases while CRI and GHQ scores showed no significant difference between the groups of case and control. Conclusion: Present research suggests that in the treatment of dermatologic diseases, psychological problems should be considered. Dermatologist should be aware of alexithymia association with an underlying dermatologic disease.
