Clinical Psychology and Personality

Clinical Psychology and Personality

Effect of Adding Olfactory Training to Davanloo’s Dynamic Psychotherapy on defense styles in Aggressive adolescents: A Single-Subject Comparative Design

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Masoud Rayatdoust 1
Mahboobe Taher 2
Abbas Ali Hossein Khanzadeh 3
Seyed Mosa Tabatabaee 4
1 Ph.D. Student of Psychology, Sha. C, Islamic Azad University, Shahrood, Iran
2 Department of Psychology, Sha. C, Islamic Azad University, Shahrood, Iran
3 Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Guilan. Rast, Iran.
4 Assistant Professor, Department of Cognitive Sciences, Faculty of Psychology and Education, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran
10.22070/cpap.2026.21208.1831
Abstract
Introduction: Adolescent aggression, by reinforcing maladaptive defense mechanisms, disrupts normal developmental pathways. Given the olfactory system's role in cognitive-emotional processing, employing innovative combined interventions to enhance defensive functioning warrants further investigation. This study aimed to examine the effect of adding olfactory training to Davanloo's Dynamic Psychotherapy on defense styles in aggressive adolescents.
Method: This study employed a comparative single-case experimental design with a parallel treatment approach. The study population comprised all aggressive adolescent boys in Juybar County during the 2024–2025 academic year. From this population, eight participants with a mean age of 14.37 years and aggression scores above 78 were selected through purposive sampling and randomly assigned to two intervention groups. Data were collected using the Aggression Questionnaire and the Defense Style Questionnaire. Both groups received 13 sessions of Davanloo's Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP)-based emotional interventions; however, the second group additionally underwent complementary olfactory training.
Results: Based on the Reliable Change Index (RCI ≥ 1.96), Davanloo's Dynamic Psychotherapy demonstrated statistically significant effects on mature, immature, and neurotic defense styles in the first group; however, these improvements were not clinically significant. In contrast, the addition of olfactory training to the interventions in the second group led to improvements in defense styles that were both statistically and clinically significant.
Discussion and conclusion: Based on the results obtained, incorporating olfactory training into Davanloo's Dynamic Psychotherapy enhances defense mechanisms in aggressive adolescents by promoting functional connections between olfactory pathways and emotional centers.
Keywords
Aggressive Adolescent, Defense Styles, Davanloo’s Dynamic Psychotherapy, Olfactory Training
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Clinical Psychology and Personality
Volume 24, Issue 2 - Serial Number 47
September 2026
Pages 137-152