Article Title: Didactic Therapy for Management of Stress and Co-morbid Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety in Pakistani Adolescents
Author(s): Huma Zafar and Muhammad T. Khalily
Institute(s): Department of Psychology, International Islamic University, Islamabad.
Journal: Pakistan Journal of Psychological Research, 2015, Vol. 30, No. 1, 131-149
Correspondence Address: Huma Zafar at Department of Psychology, Govt. Viqar-un-Nisa Post graduate College for Women, Rawalpindi. Email: humaalvi_gem@yahoo.com
Abstract
The current study was undertaken to empirically examine the efficacy of didactic therapy and the role of gender in the management of psychological stress and co-morbid symptoms of depression and anxiety in adolescents. In order to conduct the therapeutic intervention, a sample consisting of 100 adolescents (50 male and 50 female) between the ages of 12 to 18 years was screened from 600 adolescents (300 male and 300 female) on the basis of their high scores on the translated version of Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (Zafar & Khalily, 2014). The current study adopted a pretest-posttest control group experimental design. The important feature of this study was to provide didactic therapy (White, 2010) to the experimental group in comparison to the control group. In this context, the experimental group in contrast to the control group showed positive outcome of the therapy at the posttest. The control group did not show any statistical difference between pre- and posttest scores. The results further revealed that female participants did not differ significantly from male participants in both pretest and posttest conditions of didactic therapy. Overall, our results supported for the adoption of didactic therapy as an effective psychological intervention to manage stress and co-morbid symptoms of depression and anxiety in adolescents.
Keywords: Adolescents, psychological stress, co-morbidity, depression, anxiety, didactic therapy, gender
