The Effectiveness of a Counseling Program Based on Compassion Focused Therapy in Reducing of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder among Cyber Bullying Victims

The study aimed to identify patterns of cyber bullying victims among middle school students. It also aimed at developing self-compassion for the study sample, It also aimed to reduce the severity of their post-traumatic stress disorder through a counseling program based on self-compassion focused therapy, and finally to identify the continuity of the effectiveness of the program during the follow-up period. The study sample consisted of a descriptive sample that consisted of (429) victims of cyber bullying, and an experimental sample consisted of (7) students who were victims of cyber bullying, had low self-compassion, and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. The participants were from the city of Abha in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The researcher applied a number of tools, such as, the cyber bullying victims scale (prepared by the researcher), the self-compassion scale (Neff, 2003) translated by the researcher, the post-traumatic stress disorder checklist (Weathers et al, 2013) translated by the researcher, the diagnostic clinical interview of post-traumatic stress disorder (Weathers et al, 2013) translated by the researcher, and the counseling program based on self-compassion focused therapy (prepared by the researcher). The results indicated that there is a number of patterns of cyber bullying experienced by the victims; suspicious calls, electronic social ostracism, electronic scandal, intentional humiliation, and electronic deception. The results also indicated the effectiveness of the counseling program in developing self-compassion and reducing post-traumatic stress disorder among the study participants. The results were discussed in the light of the theoretical frameworks and the literature review, as well as in light of the cultural and social frameworks of the current study participants.