The effect of Neuro-Linguistic Programming and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on attention and aggression in high school students in Kerman city

Background: One of today's social problems is behavioral abnormalities and aggression and ways to deal with it. The purpose of this research was to examine the effect of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) and cognitive behavioral therapy on the attention and aggression of high school students in Kerman. Methods: With a control group, this semi-experimental study administered tests before and after the intervention. All 45 male and female students enrolled at Kerman's second-year secondary school were included in the statistical population. Fifteen of them were allocated at random to one of three groups: control, experimental group 1, or group 2. The first group had 18 45-minute NLP sessions, whereas the second group received 6 60-minute CBT sessions. None of the interventions were given to the control group. The data was collected using the DASS-21 scale. Results: Compared to the control group, the educational groups that focused on cognitive-behavioral approaches and natural language processing had lower average indices of mental health evaluation. Students' anxiety and stress levels were significantly reduced after receiving instruction in both techniques, according to multivariate variance analysis. Comparing the three groups' matched results from the follow-up test, there was no difference in statistical significance in anxiety reduction between the two methods; however, there was a significant difference in lowering stress and depression, with the NLP method showing greater efficacy. Conclusion: cognitive-behavioral training is an effective method in increasing the mental health of students and this intervention can be used to improve academic performance in clinics and school health.