The population of the aged is growing in the modern society, and their health problems, economic difficulties, feeling of isolation, time of boredom are known to contribute to both increased level of depression and lowered self-esteem. Furthermore, the situation has been even worse for the elderly living alone in the relatively vulnerable environments. We studied the effects on the depression and self-esteem of female elderly living alone by the psychotherapy program using therapy bugs. This study examined the reactions of females elderly living alone before and after the introduction of psychotherapy program using therapy bugs. The participants in this study were 8 elderly living alone women. The experimental group was provided with 10 incidences of the developed psychotherapy program using therapy bugs. The pre and post-tests were analyzed with Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-ranks test using SPSS/WIN 19.0. The study found that the psychotherapy program using therapy bugs produced beneficial effects on the experiment group elderly living alone women; a better depression and self-esteem (p<0.05). In conclusion, the practice of psychotherapy program using therapy bugs was found effective in lowering depression of and improving self-esteem of the elders living alone. These findings indicate that the developed psychotherapy program using therapy bugs produced beneficial effects on the elderly.

We studied the beneficial effects of psychotherapy program using therapy bugs for children. This study examined the reactions of children before and after the introduction of psychotherapy program using therapy bugs. The participants in this study were 15 children among 3 grade classes from Gummorae elementary school in Siheung City. The experimental group was provided with 10 incidences of the developed psychotherapy program using therapy bugs. The pre and post-tests were analyzed with Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-ranks test using SPSS/WIN 19.0. The study found that the psychotherapy program using therapy bugs produced some beneficial effects on the experiment group children; a better life-respect, emotion, character and personality (p<0.05). These findings indicate that the developed psychotherapy program using therapy bugs produced beneficial effects on the children.