The Effectiveness of Emotional Regulation and Time Perspective Therapies on Anxiety and Emotional Dysregulation in Adolescents During the COVID-19 Outbreak

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of emotion regulation and time perspective therapies on anxiety and emotional dysregulation in adolescents during the COVID-19 outbreak. The research method was quasi-experimental design (pre-test, post-test and follow-up with control group). The statistical population of this study consisted of all male seventh to twelfth grade students in the Gilan-E-Gharb city(N=1050). The statistical sample included 51 adolescents with anxiety symptoms who were replaced in three groups of emotion regulation therapy, time perspective therapy, and control group. Each two experiments groups were under treatment, 8 sessions of 90 minutes per week. The Beck Anxiety Inventory and the Emotional Dysregulation scale were used to collect data. Analysis of variance with repeated measure and Tukey and Bonferroni post hoc tests were used to analyze the data. The results showed that emotion regulation and time perspective therapies were effective in reducing the symptoms of anxiety and emotional dysregulation. In addition, emotion regulation therapy was more effective in anxiety and emotional dysregulation than time perspective therapy. Based on the results, emotion regulation and time perspective therapies (especially emotion regulation), it is recommended to reduce psychological problems such as anxiety and emotional dysregulation in adolescents.