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  Background & Objectives : Social phobia is one of the common anxiety disorders characterized by fear of social situations, shame and embarrassment in communicating with unfamiliar people. The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy in reducing anxiety and depression in students with social phobia .

  Methods: An experimental pretest-posttest with control group design was used to conduct the study. The population consists of all female students in Ardabil city, 2013-2014 academic years. Using a multiple-stage cluster sampling method, a representative sample consists of 400 students was selected for the study. Then, among the students those with social phobia (based on the cut-off point), 34 participants were randomly selected and divided into two groups of 17 people (one experimental group and one control group) . The participants in experimental group received acceptance and commitment therapy for 10 sessions of 90 minutes. The control group did not receive any intervention. Anxiety, depression and social phobia questionnaires were administered to the two groups before and after the intervention. Descriptive statistics and multivariate ANOVA (MANOVA) were used for data analysis.

  Results: The results of data analysis showed that treatment based on acceptance and commitment therapy reduces anxiety, depression and social phobia of students in the experimental group compared with the control group (p<0.001) .

  Conclusion: The present study showed that acceptance and commitment therapy for students with social phobia can be used as a psychological intervention along with other intervention mechanisms.

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Background & objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of Group schema therapy on social anxiety and its specific symptoms in blind and visually impaired people.
Methods: This study was a semi -experimental study with pre-test, post-test and follow-up test with a control group. For this purpose, the statistical population of study, included all blind and low-vision people admitted to Isfahan's Ababasir Educational Institute. 26 participants were selected by available sampling and were randomly assigned to the experimental group (13 persons) and the control group (13 persons). The experimental group was trained on 10 sessions (weekly) according to schema therapy in Yang protocol, while control group did not receive any training. Data were collected by self-report method (Social Phobia Inventory) and analyzed using covariance test by SPSS-21 software.
Results: Results showed a significant difference between social anxiety in the experimental group, when entering the study, immediately after treatment, and 1 month after treatment; but no significant difference was observed in the control group.
Conclusions: One of the useful and effective treatments for refractory, ambiguous and long-term disorders that have their roots in childhood is Yang's scheme therapy and also, group therapy is one of the most important factors in the effectiveness of this treatment model in the present study.

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Background & objectives: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients suffer from anxiety and depression. Sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS) can remit the depressive-like and anxiety-like behaviors induced by diabetes mellitus. We aimed to investigate the effects of chronic administration of hydrogen sulfide on depressive and anxiety-like behaviors in the Streptozotocin (STZ) rat model of AD.
Methods: Animals were divided into: Control, NaHS, and Alzheimer’s rats group include (STZ, STZ + Saline and STZ + NaHS groups) which were the Alzheimer’s rats and received Saline and NaHS (5.6 mg/kg per d) for 21 days. For induction of AD, STZ (3 mg/kg, 10 μl/injection site) was administered into the lateral ventricles. The behavioral consequences were assessed using plus maze, forced swim and sucrose preference tests.
Results: Our results showed that intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) injection of STZ decreased the percentage of open arm time and entries, indicating anxiety-like effects. It also increased the duration of immobility time and decreased the percentage of sucrose preference indicating depression-like effects. Sodium hydrosulfide administration in STZ-treated rats increased the percentage of open arm time and entries, indicating anxiolytic-like effects. It also decreased the duration of immobility time and increased the percentage of sucrose preference, indicating antidepressant-like effects.
Conclusion: STZ administration can induce depression- and anxiety-like symptoms in rats, and Sodium hydrosulfide treatment, decreased the depression- and anxiety-like symptoms in STZ rat Model of AD, suggests that Sodium hydrosulfide can be useful in the treatment of affective disorders in AD patients.

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Background & objectives: Covid's anxiety is a threat to students' mental health and it is important to identify the psychological factors that affect it .The aim of the present study was to investigate the structural relationships of Covid-19 anxiety disorder based on cognitive flexibility with the mediating role of perceived social support in students.
Methods: In this descriptive-correlational study, based on Kameri and Lee rule, 322 students of Islamic Azad University of Tehran Markaz were selected online through cluster random sampling. Coronavirus Anxiety Inventory, Psychological Flexibility Questionnaire and Perceived Social Support Questionnaire were used to collect data. Data analysis was performed using structural equation modeling by SPSS₂₇ and AMOS₂₄ statistical software.
Results: The general model of the research was consistent with the experimental data (RMSEA=0.056). There was a negative and significant relationship between cognitive flexibility (p=0.001, β= -0.262) and social support (p=0.001, -0.516) with Covid-19 anxiety. Using the bootstrap method, the mediating role of social support between cognitive flexibility and covid-19 disease anxiety was confirmed (p=0.008, -0.338).
Conclusion: Given the inverse relationship between the level of anxiety caused by the Covid-19 epidemic and cognitive flexibility and confirmation of the mediating role of social support in students, it seems necessary to improve psychological flexibility and supportive measures by the family and others during coronavirus epidemic.

 

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Background & objectives: The pathophysiology of depression is very complex. Rosa canina L fruit contains various antioxidant compounds. The aim of this study was to investigate the anti-depressant and anti-anxiety effects of the aqueous- alcoholic extract of the Rosa canina L fruit in the behavioral tests including forced swimming, tail suspension, maze, and sucrose preference tests, as well as biochemical tests such as antioxidant capacity and malondialdehyde levels. Rosa canina L with high amounts of vitamin C, has anti-depressant and anxiety effects.
Methods: In this experimental study, 60 Syrian male mice were divided into 5 groups of 12, including the control group, the bisphenol A group, and three groups treated with oral bisphenol A at a dose of 125 mg/kg per day and the aqueous- alcoholic extract of the Rosa canina L fruit at doses of 100, 200, 400 mg/kg/day was administered from day 50 to 120 after birth. The data were analyzed using SPSS statistical software and the One Way ANOVA test. The level of significance was set at p<0.05.
Results: The findings showed that bisphenol A significantly increased the duration of immobility in the forced swimming and tail suspension test. The extract at the level of 400 mg/kg decreased the duration of immobility in both tests. Bisphenol A significantly reduced the antioxidant capacity of serum and brain. The extract at the level of 400 mg/kg significantly increased the antioxidant capacity of both the brain and serum.
Conclusion: The findings of this research showed that the fruit of the Rosa canina L has antioxidant effects, and with a significant decrease in antioxidant capacity and immobility in Syrian mice treated with the extract, therefore it has anti-depressant and anxiety effects.
 

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Background & objectives: Dental anxiety is an effective factor in reducing children's dental visits. It is necessary to identify the factors involved in causing dental anxiety to promote public health. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between dental fear and anxiety in 5-10 -year -old children with dental caries and a history of trauma in Ardabil dental clinics in 2022.
Methods: 247 children (139 girls and 108 boys) were examined in terms of demographic information, history of oral and dental trauma, and socio-economic status through a questionnaire. The dmft/DMFT index was determined using the clinical examination to check the oral health condition. Dental fear and anxiety were measured using two standard scales, FIS and CFSS-DS. Chi-square test was used for data analysis .
Results: According to the FIS index, the prevalence of dental anxiety was 11.4% and according to the CFSS-DS questionnaire, it was 18.2%. Children aged 5-7 years showed more anxiety (p=0.043). Children who had a dental visit showed higher levels of anxiety based on the CFSS-DS index (p=0.002). According to the FIS index, children without a dental visit history had a higher frequency in the "very upset" group (p=0.009). Severe dental caries in permanent teeth (DMFT) were associated with a higher level of anxiety (p=0.028). No statistically significant relationship was found between gender, number of siblings, child's position in the family, parent’s education, family income level, history of trauma and dmft with dental anxiety.
Conclusion: The results of the present study showed that age, history of dental visits and decay of permanent teeth are effective factors on children's dental anxiety.
 

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Background: Given the high prevalence of obesity and overweight and the detrimental impact on the mental health of affected people, the objective of this study is to examine the effectiveness of narrative therapy on social physique anxiety in obese and overweight women.
Methods: The current research was a semi-experimental type, with a pre-test, post-test design with a control group. The study population for this research consisted of all obese and overweight women in Tabriz city in 2023. 30 women were selected by the available sampling method and were randomly divided into two groups: the experimental group and the control group. The experimental group received narrative treatment in 8 sessions of 90 minutes, while the control group did not receive any treatment and was placed on the waiting list. At the end of the treatment period, a post-test was performed in both groups. The Social Physique Anxiety Scale by Hart et al. (1989) was used as the measurement tool. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (covariance test with repeated measures) by SPSS-24 software.
Results: In the pre-test, the mean and standard deviation of social physique anxiety in the experimental group were 44.33±2.289, while in the control group, it was 43.67±3.063. In the post-test stage, the values for social physique anxiety in the experimental group were 36.33±3.117, while in the control group, it was 43.80±3.385. The results indicated the effectiveness of narrative therapy (p<0.001). In the follow-up stages, it was found that the effects of narrative therapy are lasting (p<0.001).
Conclusion: According to the results, it can be concluded that narrative can be an effective method for reducing social physique anxiety in obese and overweight women.