The Effect of Behavioral Activation Therapy on Coping Strategies in Students with Generalized Anxiety Disorder

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of behavioral activation therapy on coping  strategies  in students with general anxiety disorder. The research method was semi-experimental with pretest-posttest with the control group. A total of 30 undergraduate and undergraduate female students from Khorramabad University were selected based on criteria of the research and randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. The experimental group received eight sessions of 90 minutes (weekly twice) of the program of behavioral activation group therapy; the control group was placed on the waiting list. Data were collected in pre-test and post-test by Lazarus & Folkman coping  strategies questionnaire. Data were analyzed using one-way covariance analysis. The findings of the research showed that there is a significant difference between the mean scores of post-test of the test groups and the control group in controlling the effect of the pretest, in the components of coping  strategies. According to the findings of the research, it can be stated that behavioral activation therapy has a significant effect on increasing the problem-oriented coping  strategies  and reducing the emotional coping  strategies. In general, it is suggested that behavioral activation group therapy be considered as an excellent way to improve the methods of coping of students with a generalized anxiety disorder, by counselors and psychotherapists.