Background and Aim: A review of previous research indicates a growing attention from researchers and sports planners to the effect of cognitive behavioral therapy in reducing the psychological problems of athletes. The purpose of the present study was to determine the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy on psychological distress and body image anxiety in female athletes.
Methods: The research method was quasi-experimental with a pre-test and post-test design with a control group. The statistical population of the research consisted of all injured and non-injured professional female athletes who competed at the national, league, and club team levels, as well as national competitions in the year 1402 (2023-2024) in Mazandaran province. From the statistical population, 30 individuals were selected through purposive sampling and randomly assigned to two groups of 15 (experimental and control). To collect the necessary data, Mason’s Psychological Distress Questionnaire (2001) and Littleton, Axsom, & Pury’s Body Image Anxiety Scale (2005) were used. For data analysis, descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and multivariate analysis of covariance were utilized with SPSS software version 27.
Results:The results showed that cognitive behavioral therapy has an effect on the distress and body image anxiety in female athletes, with effect sizes of 0.68 and 0.73 percent, respectively.
Conclusion: Therefore, the use of cognitive behavioral therapy is recommended to reduce psychological distress and body image anxiety in female athletes.