Emotion Regulation Training Based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to Reduce Anxiety Levels in Adolescent

Untreated anxiety may cause various problems in teenagers, such as difficulty in daily activities, social relationship problems, lack of academic performance, and other more complex problems. This research was a quasi-experimental research with a one-group pretest-posttest design that aims to examine the effect of emotion regulation training based on Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) in reducing adolescent anxiety levels. The participants consisted of 5 female adolescents (13-14 years) who had moderate to severe anxiety and emotion dysregulation problems. Training is carried out in 5 sessions of 1-1.5 hours. Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale Short Form (DERS-SF) and Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS 21) were used to measure the level of emotion dysregulation and anxiety before, after, and 3 weeks after the training. The results showed decreased emotion dysregulation (26.9%-30.5%) and anxiety (17.1%-42.8%) among participants. Emotion regulation training based on CBT was effective in increasing the ability to manage emotions and reducing anxiety levels in adolescents. This training can be considered as a group intervention method to overcome anxiety problems in adolescents.