The Effectiveness of Positive Psychotherapy on Depression Symptoms and Subjective Well - Being of Prisoners

The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of positive psychotherapy on depression symptoms and subjective well - being of prisoners. The research design was quasi-experimental with non-equivalent groups design with pretest and post-test. 71 prisoners from Bandar - abas prison were selected through purposeful sampling and assigned to an experimental and a control group. For gathering data, Beck Depression short Inventory (BDI-S) and Subjective Well-Being scale was used. The experimental group received positive psychotherapy for eight sessions each one lasting 90 minutes. The results of Covariance analysis showed that positive psychotherapy increased the subjective well- being and decrease depression symptoms of prisoners. The results of this research also showed that positive psychotherapy could be used as an efficient technique to increase the subjective well-being of prisoners