Iranian Journal of Rehabilitation Research in Nursing

Introduction: Mindfulness In psychotherapy has been conceptualized as an enhanced state of self-awareness thought to alleviate worry and anxiety. In this research the effectiveness of group cognitive therapy based on mindfulness in reducing pathological worry and anxiety symptoms in students with generalized anxiety disorder. Methods: This study was an experimental study which was used pretest-post with control group design. The subjects included 40 male high schoolers in kermanshah city. At first, the test of pathological worry was administrated on 850 students. Students who had abnormally high scores in this test were selected and a structured clinical interview administered to them based on the result of these interviews and confirmation of GAD the sample consisted of 40 students randomly assigned to equal experimental and control groups. The experimental group received 8 sessions of group mindfulness cognitive therapy (one 90 minutes session per week). post-test to both groups was administrated upon the completion of the training and 2 months later as follow- up. The instruments were state anxiety scale and Penn State Patological Worry Questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 19. Results: There were significant differences in post test and follow up scores between experimental and control groups. The experimental group had a significantly lower pathologic worry score in comparison to control group (p<0/01) and also their anxiety symptom scores showed a significant difference comparing with control group (p<0/01). Conclusion: cognitive therapy based on mindfulness decreases worry and anxiety. So It can be used as an therapeutic intervention in students with anxiety problems.