Effects of cognitive behavioral therapy on psychopathological signs and high risk behaviors in prisoners

  Background: Prisoners as a damaged group and a susceptible group for more pathologies, need psycho-social interventions to recover social and behavioral health. Previous studies conducted in this area have demonstrated the effectiveness of such interventions.   Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the effects of cognitive behavioral therapy on psychopathological signs and high risk behaviors in prisoners.   Methods: This interventional study was conducted on 200 prisoners of Qazvin central prison (without diagnosis of severe psychological disorder and substance abuse) that were selected by simple random sampling during 2012. They completed the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised ( SCL-90-R ) inventory (validity: 0.93 reliability: 0.85) and the General Health Questionnaire ( GHQ ) (validity: 0.85 reliability: 0.92). The 6 month interventions were based on cognitive-behavioral therapy in the intervention group. Then, the SCL-90-R and GHQ were completed as secondary outcome measures.   Findings: There were significant differences in all psychopathological aspects between intervention and control groups. There were no significant differences in high risk behaviors between two groups.   Conclusion: After psychotherapy, most subjects in intervention group paid more attention to their symptoms, estimated them more than before and their psychopathological signs were increased. Generally, psychotherapy could increase the general health status of the prisoners.