The Effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on Separation Anxiety Symptoms of Adult Individuals Exposed to Earthquakes

Abstract

The study was conducted in order to determine the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy in separation anxiety symptoms of adult individuals exposed to earthquakes. 30 participants who experienced the earthquake that took place on February 6, 2023 in Kahramanmaraş in Turkey and affected 11 provinces participated in the study. The participants were examined in two groups, 15 experiments and 15 controls by purposeful sampling method. The design of the research is experimental. In the research; Socio-Demographic Form, Post-Earthquake Trauma Level Determination Scale, Beck Anxiety Scale and Adult Separation Anxiety Questionnaire were applied. Of the 84 people selected from the universe, 30 people with high anxiety and separation anxiety scores were included in the study, while 54 people with high trauma level scores were not included. The average age of the participants was 38.17 and the gender distribution of the participants was 15 female (50%) and 15 male (50%). According to the scale results, 11 sessions of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy were applied to the experimental group. A significant difference was found between the mean score of the separation anxiety scale (pretest = 87.13) and the posttest (posttest = 70.07) of the participants in the CBT group (t(14) = 14.35, p< .01).