Effectiveness of Brief Empathic Dynamic Psychotherapy on Emotional Expression and Reduction of Anxious Attachment Style in Students

Emotional expressiveness and attachment styles are among the psychological variables that may be of so great importance in different groups in terms of psychological pathology and the effect of psychological therapies on these variables should be considered. In this regard, the aim of this study was to present the effectiveness of brief empathic dynamic psychotherapy on emotional expression and attachment style due to anxiety in Amol students. The research design was experimental studies with quasi-experimental design and pre-test-post-test with the control group. The statistical population of the study included all students of Amol universities in the first half of the academic year ۲۰۱۸-۲۰۱۹. In the first step, ۱۰۰ people were selected by Convenience sampling method. And King and Ammons (۱۹۹۰) emotional expression questionnaires and Hazen and Sheaver (۱۹۸۷) adult attachment scale were administered to them. That among them ۲۴ people of the received higher scores from the cutting point according to the inclusion criteria and they were selected as the sample. And were randomly divided into two groups of ۱۲ experimental and control. The experimental group received short-term Psychotherapy with an empathetic approach (Seruya, ۱۹۹۷) for ۱۲ sessions ). Then post-test was performed in both groups. Data were analyzed by analysis of covariance and SPSS ۲۰ software. The results showed that in the post-test stage, there is a significant difference between the score of positive emotion expression(F(۱,۲۱)= ۴.۷۸, p=۰.۰۴, Eta=۰.۲۰۱), negative emotion expression(F(۱,۲۱)= ۴.۷۸, p=۰.۰۴, Eta=۰.۲۰۴) and intimacy(F(۱,۲۱)= ۵.۳۶۴, p=۰.۰۳, Eta=۰.۲۲), anxiety attachment(F(۱,۲۱)= ۸.۸۱, p=۰.۰۰۷, Eta=۰.۲۹۶), experimental and control groups.