The effect of cognitive-behavioral therapy on reducing the anxiety and depression of children with hearing loss

Background and Aim: Mental health in children is a major key to success in their life. For children of any age, anxiety can strike without warning. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) on reducing anxiety and depression of children with hearing impairment. Methods: Thirty 7-11-year-old children with hearing impairment were randomly assigned to experimental (n=15) and control (n=15) groups. The intervention in the experimental group included identifying cognitions and incentives appraisal and correction of cognitions, assessing automated thoughts and cognitive distortions, teaching and tracking cognitive distortion, teaching and recognizing illogical beliefs, and assigning tasks. To collected data needed, interview and hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) were applied. Results: There was a significant difference between control and experimental group after the intervention so that in the experimental group, a low score on depression and anxiety showed a significant reduction after the intervention (p 0.05). However, no significant change was observed in the score of the control group (p 0.05). Conclusion: The results suggest that CBT is one of the effective methods in the field of treatment of depression and anxiety disorders of children with hearing loss. Overall, CBT can be applied to prevent negative effects of anxiety and depression on children with hearing loss.