Fourteen randomly assigned Iranian girls ages 12-13 years who had been sexually abused received up to 12 sessions of CBT or EMDR treatment. Assessment of post-traumatic stress symptoms and problem behaviours was completed at pre-treatment and 2 weeks post-treatment. Both treatments showed large effect sizes on the posttraumatic symptom outcomes, and a medium effect size on the behaviour outcome, all statistically significant. A non-significant trend on self-reported post-traumatic stress symptoms favoured EMDR over CBT. Treatment efficiency was calculated by dividing change scores by number of sessions; EMDR was significantly more efficient, with large effect sizes on each outcome. Limitations include small N, single therapist for each treatment condition, no independent verification of treatment fidelity, and no long-term follow-up. These findings suggest that both CBT and EMDR can help girls to recover from the effects of sexual abuse, and that structured trauma treatments can be applied to children in Iran.

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Objective: This study was conducted to examine and compare the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) in child victims of domestic violence (child physical abuse and/or witnessing parents’ conflicts). Method: A total of 139 girls and boys, aged 8-12 years, were randomly assigned into CBT (n = 40), EMDR (n = 40), or control groups (n=59). All children received up to 12 individual treatment sessions over 4–12 weeks. Blind assessment was done before and 2 weeks after the treatment and on a variety of teacher-parent-rated and self-report measures of posttraumatic symptomatology, depression, anxiety, and behavior problems. Results: CBT and EMDR were effective in ameliorating psychological sequelae of victims of domestic violence on the measured variables (p =.001). Comparison of the treatment and control groups suggested moderate to high practical significance in treatment groups vs controls. Conclusion: Both CBT and EMDR can help children to greatly recover from the outcomes of domestic violence in comparison with control group. Moreover, structured trauma treatments are strongly recommended and can be used for children

Objective: Acceptance and commitment therapy has been used to treat anxiety disorders recently. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy for psychological symptoms in students with social anxiety disorder, including difficulty in emotion regulation, psychological flexibility based on experiential avoidance, self-compassion, and external shame. Methods: This study was a semi-experimental clinical trial. Twenty four students with social anxiety disorder were randomly divided into two groups after initial evaluations: an experimental group (12 subjects) and a control group (12 subjects). The experimental group received 12 treatment sessions based on a protocol of acceptance and commitment therapy for anxiety disorders, and the control group was put on a waiting list. Self-Compassion (SCS), Difficulty in Emotion Regulation (DERS), External Shame (ESS), Social Anxiety (SPIN), and Acceptance and Action (AAQ-II) questionnaires were used to assess participants. Data were analyzed using SPSS. Results: Acceptance and commitment therapy was shown to be effective at the post-test and follow up stages for reducing external shame, social anxiety, and difficulty in emotion regulation and its components, and for increasing psychological flexibility and self-compassion (p < 0.05). The largest effect size of treatment was for increase of psychological flexibility and the lowest efficacy was for the components "difficulty in impulse control" and "limited access to emotional strategies" at the post-test and follow-up stages, respectively. Conclusion: Acceptance and commitment therapy may be an appropriate psychological intervention for reducing the symptoms of students with social anxiety disorder and helping them to improve psychological flexibility. Emotion and related problems can be identified as one of the main targets of this treatment. Clinical trial registration: Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials, IRCT20180421039369N1.

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