| The effects of sandplay therapy on the depression, anxiety and saliva cortisol of university students with ADHD tendencies |
| Yoon-jung Lee1, Mikyung Jang2 |
1Namseoul University Children and Family Counseling Center, Cheonan, Korea
2Department of Child Welfare, Namseoul University, Cheonan, Korea |
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Received: May 11, 2012 Accepted: May 28, 2012 |
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| Abstract |
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This study preformed sandplay therapy, a type of individual psychotherapy, targeting college students with ADHD tendencies to determine whether the therapy was effective in reducing their depression, anxiety, and saliva cortisol which is a biochemical indicator of stress. This research used Conners’ Adult ADHD Rating Scale-Korean Version (CAARS-K), Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI), and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), targeting 797 college students in the central region of Korea. Among the participants who fell into the top 20% and displayed high levels of depression and anxiety in Conners’ ADHD rating scale, eight students who agreed to the experiment were finally selected. The sandplay therapy program was conducted for a total of ten weeks, one session per week, 45 minutes per session. pre-tests and post-tests questionnaire surveys were conducted and saliva cortisol samples were collected on a biweekly basis pre-tests and post-tests each session during the program. The statistical programs used to verify the effectiveness of this study were SPSS 15.0 Version and the Wilcoxon Rank Sum-Test, a non-parametric statistical process, was performed to verify the pre-tests and post-tests effect of each variable. The results indicated that sandplay therapy was effective in reducing their depression, state-trait anxiety, and the secretion of cortisol, a hormone related to endocrine stress.
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ADHD, depression, anxiety, saliva cortisol, sand play therapy
* Corresponding Author : Yoon-jung Lee, Sandplay therapist & psychotherapist, Namseoul University
Children and Family Counseling Center (snyntt@hanmail.net)
Mikyung Jang, Professor |
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