Ali Pakizeh

Depression, as one of the most common mental disorders, is rooted in many biological and psychological factors, and cognitive biases are one of the main roots of its formation and persistence. Cognitive biases, as systematic patterns of deviation from the norm or rationality in judgment, are manifested in depressed people in the form of self-defeating biases and focusing on the negative aspects of life. Cognitive Bias Modification (CBM) includes teaching new information processing methods to change processing biases such as selective attention and interpretation biases. The present research was carried out to investigate the effect of Cognitive Bias Modification (CBM) towards sad faces on indicators of depression, hope, and life orientation in depressed students. The research method was semi-experimental and the pretest-posttest control group design was used in this study. The population included Persian Gulf University students in the academic year 2021-2022, and the sample size in this study included 40 male and female students with moderate depression who were selected using a purposive sampling method. Multivariate analysis of covariance test was used for statistical analysis of data and data were analyzed with SPSS 21 software. According to the results, Cognitive Bias Modification (CBM) towards sad faces caused a significant decrease in depression, improved the hope index, and increased the positive orientation of students' lives. Training on Cognitive Bias Modification (CBM) methods aimed at enhancing information processing processes can play an effective role in preventing psychological disorders and improving mental health indicators by correcting cognitive biases and reducing negative emotions.