The effectiveness of mood regulation skills training on the anxiety and irritability of students with disruptive mood disregulation disorder

Introduction: Disruptive mood dysregulation that is characterized by chronic disorder is considered a new diagnosis in the fifth edition of the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-5) that is characterized by chronic, persistent and severe irritability in children and adolescents. Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of mood regulation skills training in reducing anxiety and irritability of students with disruptive mood disregulation disorder. Method: The method of research was a quasi-experimental with a pretest posttest and a control group. The research population included all male students of the first secondary school in Abhar city in the 2019-2020 academic year. Purposeful sampling was used to select 30 students who were randomly assigned as an experimental and a control group. The instruments of research were stringers emotional response index and beck anxiety questionnaire. The experimental group participated in mood regulation skills training sessions while the control group did not receive any interventions. To analyze the collected data in the pretest and posttest multivariate analysis of covariance (Mancova) with spss 21 was used. Results: The findings showed that there was a significant difference between the mean scores of pretest and posttest in the experimental and control groups (p<0.01). Conclusion: Mood regulation skills training reduces the irritability and anxiety of students with disruptive mood disorders.