Background: Depressive, anxious, aggressive and regressive behaviors
are the most common psychiatric symptoms following natural disasters in
children. Art, play and behavioral techniques are used for reducing
these traumatic symptoms. We studied the effect of 12 sessions of group
play therapy in children 3 to 6 years old who had been exposed to the
Bam earthquake directlyMethods: This study was carried out to evaluate
the effect of 12 sessions of group play therapy with
cognitive-behavioral approach for the preschool aged children who had
been exposed to the Bam earthquake directly and had lost at least one
of their first degree family members. Mental retarded children and
those with psychiatric or severe medical problems that needed
medications were excluded. Before and after interventions we evaluated
post traumatic, emotional and anxiety symptoms by using Yule's PTSD
scale and behavioral symptoms by Rutter's questionnaire. Then we
compared before and after interventions scores.Findings: At first 19
children were included in the study, 13 of them completed at least two
thirds of the interventional sessions. We excluded six children who
participated in fewer sessions. The mean scores of Yule's PTSD scale
and Rutter's questionaire reduced during interventions which was
statistically significant.Conclusions: Trauma/grief focused group play
therapy may be effective in reducing post traumatic symptoms of natural
disasters in preschool aged children