THE EFFECTS OF MATERNAL ATTACHMENT THERAPY WITH MOTHERS IN REDUCING HYPER ANXIETY SYMPTOMS IN DAUGHTERS WITH ATTACHMENT PROBLEMS

Aim: The aim of present study was to investigate the effects of maternal attachment therapy in mothers to reduce hyper anxiety symptoms in daughters with attachment problems.
Method: An experimental design with pretest- posttest and follow up with control group was employed and the target sample comprised of 32 individuals out of 388 second and fourth grade primary school pupils in Isfahan in 2010. These students had high scores on attachment problems and hyper anxiety symptoms. Therapy was offered to mothers of these pupils. Randolph Attachment Disorder Questionnaire (1997) and The Ontario Mental Health Test (1987) were used. Therapeutic sessions comprising of 10 group sessions were performed for mothers and its effects was investigated in the rate of their daughters’ hyper anxiety symptoms.
Results: Results showed that maternal attachment based therapy caused reduction of hyper anxiety symptoms and therefore led to improvement of their daughters in posttest and one month follow up. This amount of reduction of symptoms in the experimental group in comparison with the control group nearly reached statistical significant.
Conclusion: Maternal attachment therapy is a functional and useful method for parents and psychotherapists can use this technique in order to treat hyper anxiety disorder in children who suffer from attachment problems.