Effect of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on Stress among Students appearing for Competitive Exams

Abstract

Adolescents is a transitional phase in which an individual deals with enormous amount of physical, mental and emotional and academic stress such as stress to look good, to maintain healthy relationships with others, to perform well in exams etc. During this roller coaster ride, there comes a peak point which decides an individual’s future i.e. the phase of competitive exams. The stress faced by an adolescent is highest at this point of time which must need to be altered or reduced in order to avoid any mishappenings. So, a therapeutic technique namely Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), a client centered therapy is used in order to reduce the stress among adolescents appearing in competitive exams. The aim of the present research is to study the effect of cognitive behavioral therapy on stress among those students who are appearing in competitive exams. In this research study, a standardized test namely, Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) developed by Sheldon Cohen is used which is possessing high reliability and validity. The test was conducted on 60 students purposively selected from various educational institutions of Udaipur city. Out of them, 20 students were randomly selected in order to provide CBT intervention in a pre-decided fashion. It was found that there is a significant positive effect of cognitive behavioral therapy on stress among students appearing for competitive exams and also the difference between pre-post testing was found significant. This research study is found to be distinctive and helpful in order to study and compare the effects of CBT over stress and also to reduce it.