Rooyesh-e- Ravanshenasi Journal(RRJ)

The present study aimed to determine the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral group therapy on emotional instability and emotional expression in female students with animal phobias. The research method was a quasi-experimental design with a pre-test-post-test design and a control group. The statistical population of the present study included female students of Tehran West and Tehran Center Azad Universities with animal phobia in the academic year 1402-1403. Of these, 30 people were selected using a convenience sampling method, and 15 people were randomly assigned to the experimental group and 15 people to the control group. The experimental group received cognitive behavioral group therapy for 7 sessions, 2 hours each, once a week. The experimental and control groups responded to the Emotional Instability Scale (DERS; Gratz & Romer, 2004) and the Emotional Expression Styles Scale (EEQ; King & Emmons, 1990) in two pre-test and post-test stages. The collected data were analyzed by multivariate analysis of covariance. The results of the study showed that by controlling for the pre-test effect, there was a significant difference between the mean post-test of emotional instability and emotional expression in the experimental and control groups at the level of (p<0.05). Overall, it can be concluded that cognitive behavioral group therapy affected reducing emotional instability and increasing emotional expression in female students with animal phobia.