Background: In children and adolescents physical and psychological
integrity threatening occur after disasters, whereby post traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD) may be the first reaction. Psychological
debriefing is a way for prevention and reducing PTSD symptoms. Many
studies have shown the efficacy of behavioral therapy in treatment of
post-traumatic stress disorder. Few evidence is available for using
these techniques in combination for prevention and treatment of PTSD
symptoms. This study compared the efficacy of psychological debriefing
and cognitive behavioral group therapy combination on Bam earthquake
related PTSD symptoms in children with a control group. Methods: In a
control trial, we evaluated the efficacy of one session psychological
debriefing and three sessions of group behavioral therapy in Bam
earthquake adolescent survivors with PTSD symptoms and compared it with
a control group. The mean age of participants was 9.07 (SD=1.7) years
and no one had sever PTSD or other psychiatric disorder that needed
pharmacological interventions. Before and after interventions we
evaluated PTSD symptoms by use of K-SADS questionnaire and compared
them with the control group. Results: The study included 100 persons,
of whom 20 persons were excluded during intervention because of
migration. The mean values of total PTSD symptoms and the symptoms of
re-experience and avoidance were reduced after interventions. This
reduction was statistically significant only for symptoms of
re-experience. In control group the mean values of PTSD symptoms
increased during study which was statistically significant. The two
groups showed statistically significant differences of symptom
reduction in total PTSD symptoms, re-experience and avoidance. No
difference was detected for hyper arousal. Conclusion: Psychological
debriefing and group behavioral therapy may have preventive effect on
PTSD symptoms and may reduce symptoms of re-experience
