Comparing the Efficacy of Three Therapeutic Methods of Emotional Expression, Mental and Combined Relaxation in Reducing Perceived Stress

The phenomenon of stress and its role in sickness and health is overt. Furthermore, various studies have confirmed the role of emotions in psychological wellbeing; but the relation between stress and emotions is one of the important issues about which there are different theories. The aim of the present study is to compare the effect of three interventions including: emotional expression, meditation and compound method on perceived stress. The design used in the present study is quasiexperimental, pretestposttest with control group and a twomonth followup stage. Forty men who voluntarily had referred to Tavan Afza Clinic were chosen using handtohand sampling method and were randomly assigned to four groups. The Cohen’s Perceived Stress Scale was used in the pretest, posttest and followup stages and the intervention lasted for eight sessions within one month. The data were analyzed by covariance and Ttest independent group test. The statistical data indicated that the difference between the compound treatment group and control group by the significance level of 5% and the confidence level of 95% was significant; but the difference between the other groups was not significant. The results indicated that the compound method can be effective in reducing perceived stress of the youth. Therefore, this method can be used as an effective way to reduce stress in the stressedout people and to improve psychological wellbeing in the youth.