Effectiveness of Drama Therapy on Depression and Psychological Distress Tolerance in Adolescents with Low Level of Physical Activity

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Ms in General Psychology, Department of Psychology, Payame Noor University, Semnan, Iran.

2 Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Payam Noor University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Purpose: Drama therapy is a creative intervention that facilitates emotional expression and can help adolescents understand and modulate psychological challenges. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of drama therapy on depression and psychological distress tolerance in adolescents with low physical activity.
Methods: This quasi-experimental study employed a pretest-posttest-follow-up design with a control group. The sample consisted of 30 adolescents (aged 13-18) supported by a charity in Tehran, selected via convenience sampling and randomly assigned to either an experimental group (n=15) or a control group (n=15). The experimental group received 14 sessions of 90-minute drama therapy based on a structured protocol.
Results: The results indicated that drama therapy significantly reduced depression (P=0.001) and increased psychological distress tolerance (P=0.003). A significant effect of time was also observed for both depression reduction (P=0.001) and increased distress tolerance (P=0.001). Furthermore, the interaction effect of time and group was significant, showing a greater reduction in depression (P=0.001) and a greater increase in distress tolerance (P=0.047) in the experimental group compared to the control.
Conclusions: Drama therapy is an effective intervention for reducing depression and enhancing psychological distress tolerance in inactive adolescents under charitable support. This creative, interactive approach provides a valuable framework for improving the mental health of this vulnerable population.
 

Keywords

References

  1. Keating DP, I. Demidenko M, Kelly D. Cognitive and Neurocognitive Development in Adolescence☆. Reference Module in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Psychology: Elsevier; 2019.
  2. Houghton DC, Stein DJ, Cortese BM. Review: Exteroceptive Sensory Abnormalities in Childhood and Adolescent Anxiety and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Critical Review. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. 2020;59(1):78–87.
  3. Page CE, Coutellier L. Adolescent Stress Disrupts the Maturation of Anxiety-related Behaviors and Alters the Developmental Trajectory of the Prefrontal Cortex in a Sex- and Age-specific Manner. Neuroscience. 2018;390:265–77.
  4. Morelli V, Nettey C. Chapter 1 - Adolescent Health Screening: Toward A More Holistic Approach. In: Morelli V, editor. Adolescent Health Screening: an Update in the Age of Big Data: Elsevier; 2019. p. 1–5.
  5. Donohue MR, Luby J. Depression☆. In: Benson JB, editor. Encyclopedia of Infant and Early Childhood Development (Second Edition). Oxford: Elsevier; 2020. p. 401–9.
  6. Fenley AR, Nelson Darling LJ, Schild JS, Langer DA. 5.18 - Depression in Children and Adolescents. In: Asmundson GJG, editor. Comprehensive Clinical Psychology (Second Edition). Oxford: Elsevier; 2022. p. 357–75.
  7. Jiang S, Dong L. The effects of teacher discrimination on depression among migrant adolescents: Mediated by school engagement and moderated by poverty status. Journal of Affective Disorders. 2020;275:260–7.
  8. Bruns KM, OʼBryan EM, McLeish AC. An Examination of the Association Between Emotion Reactivity and Distress Tolerance Among College Students. J Nerv Ment Dis. 2019;207(6):429–32.
  9. Zvolensky MJ, Vujanovic AA, Bernstein A, Leyro T. Distress Tolerance: Theory, Measurement, and Relations to Psychopathology. Current Directions in Psychological Science. 2010;19(6):406–10.
  10. Berghs M, Prick AJC, Vissers C, van Hooren S. Drama Therapy for Children and Adolescents with Psychosocial Problems: A Systemic Review on Effects, Means, Therapeutic Attitude, and Supposed Mechanisms of Change. Children (Basel). 2022;9(9):1–27.
  11. Annous N, Al-Hroub A, El Zein F. A Systematic Review of Empirical Evidence on Art Therapy With Traumatized Refugee Children and Youth. Frontiers in Psychology. 2022;13(1):811515–25.
  12. Jiang L, Alizadeh F, Cui W. Effectiveness of Drama-Based Intervention in Improving Mental Health and Well-Being: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Post-Pandemic Period. Healthcare (Basel). 2023;11(6):1–19.
  13. Beck AT, Ward CH, Mendelson M, Mock J, Erbaugh J. An inventory for measuring depression. Archives of general psychiatry. 1961;4:561–71.
  14. Taheri Tanjani P, Garmaroudi G, Azadbakht M, Fekrizadeh Z, Hamidi R, Ghisvandi E, Fathizadeh S. Validity and reliability Beck Depression Inventory-II among the Iranian elderly Population. Journal of Sabzevar University of Medical Sciences. 2015;22(1):189–98.
  15. Simons JS, Gaher RM. The Distress Tolerance Scale: Development and Validation of a Self-Report Measure. Motivation and Emotion. 2005;29(2):83–102.
  16. Azizi AR. Reliability and validity of the persian version of distress tolerance scale. Iran J Psychiatry. 2010;5(4):154–8.
  17. Cassidy S, Gumley A, Turnbull S. Safety, play, enablement, and active involvement: Themes from a Grounded Theory study of practitioner and client experiences of change processes in Dramatherapy. The Arts in Psychotherapy. 2017;55:174–85.
  18. Jennings S. Dramatherapy: Theory and Practice. 1st ‎ Routledge ed2016.
  19. Murdoch JL. The Arts in Psychotherapy. 2008;35(5):356–7.
  20. Bourne J, Andersen-Warren M, Hackett S. A systematic review to investigate dramatherapy group work with working age adults who have a mental health problem. The Arts in Psychotherapy. 2018;61:1–9.
  21. Keiller E, Melvin E, Ivers M, Lambie R, Bourne J. A systematic review of dramatherapy interventions which are used to support adult participants’ mental health in forensic settings. The Arts in Psychotherapy. 2023;86:102096–106.
  22. Rousseau C, Benoit M, Gauthier MF, Lacroix L, Alain N, Rojas MV, et al. Classroom drama therapy program for immigrant and refugee adolescents: a pilot study. Clinical child psychology and psychiatry. 2007;12(3):451–65.

 

Sports Psychology
Volume 14, Issue 2
2022
Pages 252-263

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 12 August 2022
  • Revise Date: 17 October 2022
  • Accept Date: 28 December 2022

Share

How to cite

Statistics