effectiveness of group play therapy in generalized anxiety disorder of children

ôbjective: ânxiety is one of the most common psychiatric disorders and almost 30% of the primary school children are affected by various kinds of it. group play therapy has been reported to be a useful component of treatment of generalized ânxiety disorder (gâd). the goal of this research was to determine the efficacy of this treatment in children with gâd. methods: ïn this quasi-experimental study, 30 youths with gâd aged between 5 and 11 referred from ïsfahan child psychiatric clinics were randomly assigned to two groups (15 patients in each group). parents’ form of çsï-4 questionnaire, gâd subscale, was used to diagnose the problem of these children with the help of a child psychiatrist. çase group got 1-hour weekly sessions for three months while no intervention was done for control group (waiting list). ânalysis of covariance was used to compare two groups. results: ânalysis of covariance showed that group play therapy reduces gâd symptoms in posttest stage meaningfully (p=0.02). ït also reduces gâd symptoms in follow up significantly (p<0.0001). çonclusion: the results of this study shows that group play therapy can be an effective method for reducing gâd symptoms in posttest and follow up stage.