Effectiveness of Compassion-Based Therapy on Health Anxiety, Intolerance of Uncertainty, and Psychosomatic Headache in Adolescents with War-Induced Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
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Objective: The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of compassion-based therapy on health anxiety, intolerance of uncertainty, and psychosomatic headache in adolescents with war-induced PTSD.
Methods and Materials: A quasi-experimental pretest–posttest control-group design was used. Thirty adolescents aged 13 to 17 years with war-induced post-traumatic stress symptoms were selected through purposive sampling and assigned to an experimental group (n = 15) and a control group (n = 15). The experimental group received eight weekly sessions of compassion-based therapy, whereas the control group received no structured psychological intervention during the study period. Data were collected using the International Trauma Questionnaire–Child and Adolescent Version, the Short Health Anxiety Inventory, the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale for Children, and the Henry Ford Headache Disability Inventory. Multivariate analysis of covariance and follow-up univariate ANCOVAs were used to analyze the data while controlling for pretest scores.
Findings: After the intervention, the experimental group showed marked reductions in health anxiety, intolerance of uncertainty, and headache-related psychosomatic symptoms compared with the control group. The multivariate effect of group was significant, Wilks’ Lambda = 0.31, F(3, 23) = 17.73, p < .001, partial η² = 0.69. Follow-up analyses confirmed significant intervention effects for health anxiety, F(1, 26) = 69.75, p < .001, intolerance of uncertainty, F(1, 26) = 70.29, p < .001, and psychosomatic headache symptoms, F(1, 26) = 70.73, p < .001.
Conclusion: Compassion-based therapy appears to be an effective intervention for reducing psychological and psychosomatic manifestations of trauma in adolescents with war-induced PTSD.
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