Studying the effectiveness of cognitive group therapy based on imaginative exposure in social phobia of university students

This research was accomplished with aim of studying the: Introduction: effectiveness of cognitive group therapy based on imaginative exposure in social phobia of Payam Noor university students. Methodology: The design was pretest-posttest with control group. The population was the students of VaraminPayam Noor University and 120 persons were selected by random sampling. 60 subjects which had the highest grades in the social phobia were divided into 2 groups of experiment and control. Social phobia was measured with Connorʹs social phobia questionnaire (Alpha = 0/88). This questionnaire would asses 3 small scales of phobia, elusion and physiologic problems. Group Therapy based on imaginative exposure was performed during 8 sessions in experimental group (n = 30).In order to compare 2 control and experimental groups and understanding the effect of pre -test, statistical test of covariance analysis was used After data collection which was performed in SPSS software.Findings:Based on the results of covariance analysis, the main influence of independent variable (group therapy based on imaginative exposure) and after modifying the grades of pre-test on 3 factors of phobia, elusion and physiologic problem and the general grade of social phobia was meaningful. Conclusion: Group therapy of imaginative exposure leads to the decrease of studentsʹ social phobia.