The Effectiveness of Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy on Reducing Stress in Female Students with Social Anxiety

Authors
masoomeh hoseinian
fatemeh mohammadifar
Abstract
The aim of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness of Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy on reducing stress in female students with social anxiety. The research method was a quasi-experimental design with a pretest–posttest and a control group. The statistical population included seventh-grade female students of lower secondary schools in District 3 of Tehran during the 2024–2025 academic year. The sample consisted of 20 students with symptoms of social anxiety who were selected through purposive sampling and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups (10 students in each group). The experimental group received nine 90-minute sessions of Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy, while the control group did not receive any intervention.

The research instruments included the Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN) as a screening tool and the stress subscale of the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21). Data were analyzed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) in SPSS-26 software.
The results showed that after controlling for the pretest effect, there was a significant difference between the two groups in stress levels (p < 0.01). In conclusion, Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy can be considered an effective intervention for reducing stress in female students with social anxiety.
Keywords
intensive short-term dynamic psychotherapy
perceived stress
social anxiety
female students
adolescence
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