Effects of reading mesnevi on children with depression and anxiety disorders

Depression is characterized by a decrease in self-confidence, loss of pleasure in life, loss of hope and reluctance that can last for days, months or even years in individuals. Anxiety disorder is defined as the individual's perception of a situation in daily life as dangerous and excessive anxiety about it. Bibliotherapy is a treatment that uses reading materials and can help children think, understand and work on emotional, mental, and social anxieties. In this study, it was aimed to determine whether there was a difference between the control group and the patients with depression or anxiety disorder by applying Mesnevi reading therapy. It is aimed that Mesnevi reading therapy will contribute to the recovery of this disease.The patients were recruited from the Child Adolescent and Mental Health and Diseases outpatient clinic at Necmettin Erbakan University Meram Medical Faculty between March 2022 and December 2022. At the beginning of the study and after one month of follow-up, The Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS), Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) and Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) tests were performed on the children in both groups. The study included 40 patients, 20 in the Mesnevi reading group and 20 in the control group. The patients were between the ages of 13 and 18 (mean age: 15.13 ± 1.38 years) and were clinically diagnosed with mild depression or anxiety disorder. The results showed significant decreases in the RCADS, social anxiety disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, and CDI scores of the study group after reading Mesnevi (p<0.01; p<0.001; p<0.01; p<0.01; p<0.05; p<0.01, respectively). However, no significant change was observed in the SCARED scores of the study group after reading Mesnevi (p>0.05). When the RCADS, social anxiety disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, panic disorder, and major depressive disorder scores of the study and control groups were compared, it was seen that the study group's scores were significantly lower (p<0.01; p<0.01; p<0.05; p<0.01; p<0.001, respectively). When comparing the mean scores of the working and control groups on the SCARED, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and social anxiety disorder scales, it was found that the mean scores of the working group were significantly lower (p<0.01, p<0.01, p<0.05, p<0.01, respectively). When comparing the mean scores of the working and control groups on the CDI scale, it was determined that the working group had significantly lower scores (p<0.01). For the control group, there was no significant change in the initial and final mean scores on the RCADS, separation anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, and CDI scales (p>0.05). It was found that there was a significant increase in the initial and final mean scores of the control group on the SCARED, panic disorder, separation anxiety disorder, and social anxiety disorder scales (p<0.001, p<0.05, p<0.01, p<0.001, respectively). In conclusion, reading Mesnevi through bibliotherapy has a significant therapeutic contribution to improving depression and anxiety symptoms in children.