• Effect of group therapy based on acceptance and commitment with psychodrama on fear of negative evaluation in students with a social anxiety disorder
  • Maliheh Eshaghzadeh,1 Samaneh Eshaghzadeh,2 Mohammad Amin Khezri,3,* Elaheh Erami,4 Majid Hasanzadeh,5
    1. Instructor, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Torbat Heydariyeh University of Medical Sciences, Torbat Heydariyeh, Iran
    2. MSc in Clinical Psychology, Torbat Heydariyeh University of Medical Sciences, Torbat Heydariyeh, Iran
    3. Student Research Committee, Torbat Heydariyeh University of Medical Sciences, Torbat Heydariyeh, Iran
    4. Instructor, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Torbat Heydariyeh University of Medical Sciences, Torbat Heydariyeh, Iran
    5. Instructor, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Torbat Heydariyeh University of Medical Sciences, Torbat Heydariyeh, Iran


  • Introduction: Social anxiety is a disorder that can make life and communication difficult for people, especially students. The inadequate impact of cognitive-behavioral therapies spells out the need for other methods. This study aimed to determine the effect of group therapy based on acceptance and commitment with psychodrama on fear of negative evaluation in students with a social anxiety disorder.
  • Methods: The present study was experimental with pretest-posttest with an experimental group (12 people) and three control groups (12 people in each group) and randomly assigned. The experimental group (combined psychotherapy group) participated in 12 sessions of 90 minutes and weekly two courses based on the protocol (based on the Strosahl acceptance and commitment therapy protocol, 1999, and Dayton's treatment protocol of psychodrama, 1994). The first control group at this stage was the only treatment for acceptance and commitment. The second control group only treatment for psychodrama and the third control group did not receive any treatment at this stage. To collect information, Watson's fear of negative evaluation scale was used. The validity and reliability of the survey were measured. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and covariance analysis by using SPSS software version 20.
  • Results: The results showed that there was no significant difference between the pre-test scores between the groups (P= 0.71). The results of covariance analysis also showed that educational intervention had a positive effect on reducing the fear of negative evaluation level of individuals so that the mean score of fear of negative evaluation in the group treated with both methods was less than other groups (P= 0.02).
  • Conclusion: Considering the relatively high prevalence and the complications of social anxiety disorder on students' performance, finding a safe treatment for this disorder can have an effective role in improving the academic and functional performance of the students.
  • Keywords: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Psychodrama, Social Anxiety Disorder, Students