A Randomized Controlled Trial on the Efficacy of PositivePsychotherapy on Improving Executive Function and Plasma Cortisol Levels in Patients with Anxiety

Interoduction: Anxiety among students can lead to decreased performance and may be associated with other psychological and biological consequences. Therefore, it deserves clinical attention. On the other hand, reinforcing positive resources such as feelings, behaviors, and positive cognitions can be used as an important intervention in managing and improving mood disorders. This study evaluated the efficacy of positive psychotherapyon improving executive function and modulating serum cortisol levels in patients with anxiety.Method: In a randomized controlled clinical trial, 30 students with anxiety symptoms were selected using purposive sampling method and were assigned to experimental and control groups through block randomization method after confirming entry criteria. The intervention was presented to the experimental group in a positive approach for ten weekly sessions and the control group was placed on the waiting list. Changes in the executive functions index were considered as primary outcomes and serum cortisol levels fluctuations were considered as secondary outcomes. Data were analyzed by multivariate analysis of covariance in SPSS 21 software. Result: Primary outcomesshowed that ten weeks of positive therapy had a significant effect on improvement of executive function (p<0.001). Secondary outcomes also showed that positive psychotherapy was effective in decreasing serum cortisol levels (p<0.001).Conclusion: Results showed that positive psychotherapy had a significant effect on the improvement of executive function and reducing serum cortisol levels. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of psychotherapy on the prefrontal cortex (PFC)and its interaction with the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis function.Declaration of Interest: None.Declaration of Interest: Non

The comparison of the effectiveness of contingency management and trans-theoretical model on the risk of sexual behaviors in cocaine users: A short report study

BACKGROUND: A transtheoretical model (TTM) can be considered as a cognitive and motivational view, a component which plays a significant role in addiction. Further, the theoretical basis of contingency management (CM) treatment is the origin of behaviorism and relies on operant conditioning. The present study is performed aiming to determine the effectiveness of TTM and CM on cocaine use and sexual risk behaviors in cocaine users.METHODS: In this randomized clinical trial with 6-month follow-up, which was performed from 15 December 2014 to 20 November 2015, 75 male cocaine users were selected based on a respondent-driven sampling (RDS) method and were randomly divided into three groups by block randomization. The experimental group received a 12-week CM protocol and TTM and the control group was placed on the waiting list. Pre-test, post-test (after 12 weeks of training), and follow-up (six months) were administered. Data analysis was carried out using repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA), Scheffe’s post hoc test, and chi-square test through SPSS software.RESULTS: The mean age of the CM group, TTM group, and control group was estimated 26.12, 25.31, and 23.91, respectively. The primary outcome showed that CM and TTM had a significant effect on decreasing the sexual thoughts, sexual hyperactivity, and high risk behaviors. This effectiveness was stable until six months (P = 0.008), however there was not a significant difference between the two treatments (P = 0.200). The secondary outcome showed that in the changing stages, TTM (F-72%) and CM (F-60%) had a significant effectiveness which maintained until the follow-up stage.CONCLUSION: The findings more enhance the hope to integrate the theoretical approaches into the clinical interventions