The effectiveness of the cognitive - behavioral strategies of stress management training on social adjustment of depressed women

The present study aimed at determining the effectiveness of stress management training using cognitive - behavioral strategies on social adjustment of depressed women. 40 samples were selected from among patients with depression disorders referring to counseling centers and psychiatric clinics of isfahan. samples were randomly placed in two intervention and control groups 20 each. the intervention group received eight 90 minutes sessions of stress management training using cognitive-behavioral method. both groups were asked to fill in cooper's stress and bell's adjustment inventory questionnaires both before the intervention and one month after. the data collected were analyzed using covariance analysis. results indicated an equality of variance in stress and social adjustment variables. the intervention group showed a significant difference between pre-test and post-test scores on stress and social adjustment levels (p<0.001). there also existed a significance difference between post-test adjusted means of both groups regarding stress (f=12.45, p<0.001) and social adjustment (f=6.88, p=0.01). it is concluded that stress management training using cognitive-behavioral strategies plays a major role in correcting social information processing patterns and consequently in the formation of social adjustment in the patients under study.