The Effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Group Therapy and Music Therapy onReducing Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms among a Sample of Refugee Children

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore the efficacy of a Cognitive Behavioral Group Therapy (CBT) and Music Therapy (MT) on reducing Posttraumatic Stress (PTS) symptoms among a sample of refugee children. The sample consisted of 48 Syrian refugee children 10 to 12 years of age. They were distributed into 4 different groups (MT group, CBT group, MT/CBT group and control group). The children PTS Inventory was used to assess the children's PTS symptoms which contains 30 items, located into 4 different dimensions (re-experiencing the traumatic event, avoidance, hyper arousal and other psychological symptoms). The findings revealed that the MT/CBT group was more effective in reducing the PTS symptoms than the other treatment groups and control group. CBT and MT treatments were found effective in reducing the re-experience, avoidance and other psychological symptoms compared with the control group. In addition the results indicated that implementing MT alone was not effective to reduce the hyper arousal symptoms.

Keywords

• Refugee children, cognitive behavioral therapy, music therapy, post-traumatic stress.