Effectiveness of group Cognitive Therapy (CT) in reducing depression, anxiety and perceived stress in men with HIV

Background and Objective: According to recent research, the rate of psychiatric disorders, especially mood and anxiety disorders and suicide attempt in HIV-positive patients are high and group Cognitive Therapy (CT) is found an efficient method to treat many psychological problems and psychiatric disorders. The aim of the present research was to evaluate the effect of group CT in reducing depression, anxiety and perceived stress of HIV-positive men.

Materials and Methods: The research design was Quasi-experimental with control group and random allocation with pre-test and post-test. At first, the active documents of 131 HIV-positive men were investigated, and all of them were evaluated with scale DASS21 which measures psychological symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress and it was found that 54(41.2%) patients have scores above the cut-off point. From this number, 30 patients were selected and by random allocation method divided into two groups, experimental (n=15) and control (n=15). The experimental group was participated in 12 sessions of group CT, but the control group did not have any psychological intervention. At the end of interventions, both groups were evaluated again.

Results: Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) showed that group CT significantly is effective in reducing depression (F=20.101, p < 0.0001), anxiety (F=38.817, p < 0.0001) and stress (F=77.199, p < 0.0001) men with HIV (p < 0.0001).

Conclusion: Experiencing the challenging relationship between negative automatic thoughts and psychological symptoms by group CT was successful in men with HIV.