The Effectiveness of “Autobiography Review” and “Hot Seat” Techniques in the form of Group Therapy on Anger Reduction in Male Adolescents with Conduct Disorder

Introduction: There are many unresolved traumatic experiences reported in the history of patients with Conduct Disorder. These experiences play a prominent role in the formation of anger-related problems in them. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of combining two techniques of “autobiography review” and “hot seat” in the form of group therapy on anger reduction in male adolescents with conduct disorder in Juvenile’s Correction and Nurturance Center of Tehran.
Method: A sample of 19 adolescents with conduct disorder was selected based on the score of Conduct Problems Scale of Youth Self-Report (YSR). The subjects were then placed in three groups: Experimental group (6), free discussion/placebo control group (7), and another control group that received no intervention (6). The anger components were assessed at pretest and posttest in all three groups by using STAXI-2 Questionnaire. The experimental group participated in 11-sessions of group therapy, utilizing "autobiography review" and "hot seat" techniques. Data was analyzed via Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests.
Results: At posttest, a significant difference was found between the three groups on measures of Anger-out control scale and Anger Expression index whereas no significant difference was noted for State and Trait anger scales. Comparing groups two by two, using Mann-Whitney U test showed that in variables which there was significant difference between three groups, this difference was significant between the experimental and free discussion control groups, and also between the experimental and control groups with no intervention but there was no significant difference between the free discussion groups and groups with no interventions.
Conclusion: These findings provide support for the effectiveness of this type of group therapy as compared with placebo or no treatment on reduction of anger problems.