The Effect of Cognitive-Behavioral Group Therapy on Depression, Stress, Anxiety of Male to Female Transsexuals

Introduction: Depression, anxiety, and stress can be mentioned as common psychiatric disorders in transsexual people. Depression, followed by stress and anxiety, is associated with decreased self-esteem and increased incidence of other psychiatric comorbidities in this minority group. One of the psychotherapy approaches that has been proven to be effective in treating these disorders is cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy. This study aimed to implement cognitive-behavioral group therapy on transsexual people. Methods: In this pre-experimental after-before study without a control group, 13 transsexual people referred to Tehran Welfare Organization in 2018 were selected using the available sampling method. First, demographic questionnaires, Beck depressionΙΙ, Cohen’s perceived stress, and Beck’s anxiety were completed by these people, and then eight sessions of group therapy were held. The content of the sessions was designed based on Michael Free cognitive therapy protocol and in the framework of the Wilder mott treatment plan. At the end of the sessions, the questionnaires were completed again, and the information was analyzed using descriptive analysis and paired t-test of SPSS19 software. Results: The results showed that the difference between the mean of depression before and after the intervention was significant (P = 0.008). The results also significant in the anxiety dimension (P = 0.000) but were not significant in the stress dimension (P = 0.302). Conclusions: The findings of this study showed that cognitive-behavioral group therapy has significantly reduced depression and anxiety in transsexual people, but in terms of stress, despite a decrease in the mean, the results were not significant; Therefore, it is suggested that this method be used more comprehensively in transsexual people to reduce anxiety and depression and secondarily increase the quality of life.