Background & Objectives: COVID–19 is a respiratory disease that first emerged in China in 2019. In addition to its physical consequences, COVID–19 affects psychological well–being and may cause psychological disorders, such as depression, anxiety, and obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). Obsessive–compulsive disorder is one of the most common, debilitating, and resistant psychological disorders, which increased during the coronavirus epidemic. One of the factors associated with anxiety among patients with coronavirus is health concerns. Individuals with OCD usually experience worry and rumination due to thinking about inappropriate ideas and images. Exposure and response prevention therapies and pharmacological treatments are not always effective in treating individuals with OCD. Individuals with OCD have difficulty understanding their genuine feelings and often make decisions based on their internal thoughts rather than on what is actually occurring in their environment. Therefore, the primary focus of short–term psychodynamic psychotherapy is on the emotional problems that have made life unbearable for the individual. Therefore, this research aimed to determine the effectiveness of short–term psychodynamic therapy on rumination and health concerns in patients with OCD and anxiety about the coronavirus.

Methods: The current quasi–experimental study employed a pretest–posttest design with two groups: control and experimental. The statistical population of this research included all patients with OCD suffering from anxiety of the coronavirus in 2021 who referred to psychological clinics in Tehran City, Iran. From the statistical population, 30 qualified volunteers were randomly assigned to the study and to the experimental and control groups (each group included 15 people). The implementation method was as follows: after selecting the sample group and before starting the treatment program, the Rumination Response Scale (Nolen–Hoeksema & Morrow, 1991) and the Health Worry Subscale of the Anxious Thoughts Inventory (Wells, 1994) were distributed to both groups. After that, a short–term psychodynamic treatment program was implemented on the experimental group (in the form of a 90–minute session, once a week), and the control group was not subjected to any treatment program. At the end, the posttest was administered again to both groups using the mentioned questionnaires. The inclusion criteria include having a score above the average on the Yale–Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y–BOCS), having at least a diploma–level education, and not participating in other therapeutic interventions at the same time. The exclusion criteria include missing more than 3 treatment sessions and non–observance of group therapy rules. Data analysis was carried out in two parts: descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. In the present study, ethical principles were observed through obtaining informed consent and ensuring participants' privacy and confidentiality. Participants were also informed that they were free to withdraw from the study at any time and could choose whether to provide personal information. They were assured that all information would remain confidential, and this commitment was fully upheld. Furthermore, upon completion of the study, to maintain ethical standards in research, the therapeutic interventions implemented in the present study were also provided to the control group.

Results: Short–term psychodynamic therapy had a significant effect on ruminative response (p < 0.001), distracting response (p < 0.001), and health concern (p < 0.001) in patients with OCD and coronavirus anxiety. The effect size results indicated that short–term psychodynamic therapy accounted for 55%, 71%, and 45% of the variance in ruminative response, distracting response, and health concern, respectively.

Conclusion: Based on the findings of the present study, short–term dynamic psychotherapy is effective in improving rumination and health concerns in patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder and coronavirus anxiety.