The Effectiveness of Supportive Psychotherapy in Reducing Physical Aggression in Male Adolescents: A Single Case Study

Aim and Background: Adolescence is the period of transition from childhood to adulthood in which adolescents experience many changes, and their reactions to these changes are different. One of the maladaptive behaviors in this regard is aggression, which has long been the focus of many interventions. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of supportive psychotherapy on reducing physical aggression in male adolescents Methods and Materials: In this study, a single case method with an A-B design was used. The statistical population included male adolescents aged 12-18 who were referred to the social emergency center with symptoms of chronic aggression during the first six months of 2020, of whom three were selected by purposive sampling. After three baseline sessions, the intervention sessions began, and a supportive psychotherapy package was administered for eight sessions of 45 minutes per week. Two follow-up sessions were held two weeks and one month after the intervention, and the results were evaluated. The data were collected by the Physical Aggression subscale of the Aggression Questionnaire (1). Findings: A stable change index and recovery percentage were used to test the research hypothesis. Based on the overall recovery percentage of the three samples after treatment (42.77) and follow-up (48.02), it was concluded that supportive psychotherapy was effective in reducing physical aggression in adolescents. Conclusions: Supportive psychotherapy was effective in reducing aggression in male adolescents. This treatment controls aggressive behaviors by increasing self-confidence and awareness of the strengths and weaknesses.