Compare Effectiveness of Positive Mindfulness Therapy, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy on Social Anxiety and Communication Skills of Female Students with Depression

Introduction: Depressed female students suffer many problems such as social anxiety and poor communication skills. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of positive directed mindfulness therapy(PDMT), mindfulness-based cognitive therapy(MBCT) and cognitive-behavioral therapy(CBT) on social anxiety and communication skills of female students with depression. Methods: This was a semi-experimental study with pretest and posttest stages which applied on four groups. Based on criteria of entry and exit; from three-hundred, lower secondary school depressed female students in Nain 2017; sixty persons were selected and randomly assigned in three therapeutic and a control groups; fifteen people per groups. For measuring the dependent variables; social anxiety and communication skills questionnaires where applied in the pretest and posttest stages. Three groups of positive directed mindfulness therapy, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, and cognitive-behavioral therapy received twelve sessions of therapy; while the control group did not receive any. Then data were analyzed by analysis of multivariate analysis of covariance.  Results: After controlling four groups with pretest; the results of posttest showed that there is a significant difference in social anxiety and communication skills of the positively directed mindfulness, mindfulness-based cognitive, and cognitive-behavioral therapy groups and the control group.(p<0.001) Also, there is a significant difference between positive directed mindfulness therapy and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy with cognitive-behavioral therapy in communication skills.  Conclusions: The findings of this research showed that positive directed mindfulness therapy, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, and cognitive-behavioral therapy are an effective treatment to decrease social anxiety and increase of communication skills of female students with depression. However positive directed mindfulness therapy can be used to reduce the social anxiety of these students more than other therapies.