scholarly journals Effectiveness of Schema Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Components of Cognitive Emotion Regulation among Patients with Anxiety Disorder

2020 ◽  
pp. 225-230

Introduction: Health anxiety is a broad cognitive disorder that is formed as a misconception about the symptoms and physical changes resulting from a personchr('39')s beliefs about illness or health. Objectives: This study aimed to compare the efficacy of schema therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) in cognitive emotion regulation components in patients with an anxiety disorder. Materials and Methods: This quasi-experimental study was carried out with a three-group pretest-posttest design. The study population included individuals referring to Bavar and Bamdad counseling centers located in Sari, Iran, in 2019. A sample size of 45 participants was selected using nonrandom sampling (i.e., targeted and voluntary sampling). The measurement tool used was Emotional Cognitive Regulation Questionnaire (Garnefsky and Craig; 2006). Multivariate analysis of covariance and univariate analysis of covariance was used to analyze the data by SPSS software (version 22). Results: The obtained results of the present study showed that schema therapy and ACT were effective in cognitive emotion regulation in patients with an anxiety disorder (P<0.001). The ACT was more effective than schema therapy in the reduction of blaming others (P<0.0001) and focus on catastrophe (P<0.010) and increase of positive refocus (P<0.012). There was no significant difference in other emotional regulation components between the groups (P>0.05). Conclusions: Considering the role of beliefs and thoughts in the anxiety disorder, it is suggested that therapists consider schema therapy and ACT in psychological interventions, including cognitive emotion regulation, for this group of patients.

Author(s):  
Hamideh Iri ◽  
Behnam Makvandi ◽  
Saeed Bakhtiarpour ◽  
Fariba Hafezi

Introduction: Hypochondriasis is a psychological disorder that affects divorced women's quality of life and mental health. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on hypochondria and cognitive emotion regulation among divorced Women in Tehran. Methods: The method was experimental with a pre-test, post-test design, and a control group. In the present study, the research population includes divorced women who have been affected by divorce-related psychological problems and were referred to Tehran consultation centers in 2018. In this study, The sample consisted of 30 divorced women selected by purposive sampling and randomly divided into experimental and control groups (n= 15 each). The research tools included the Health Anxiety Inventory (HAI) and the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ). The ACT intervention was performed on the experimental group for ten 90-minute sessions. Pearson's correlation coefficient, Levene's test, Shapiro-Wilk test, and multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) were used to analyze the data. The significance level of the study was considered to be α=0.05. Results: The mean and standard deviation (SD) of hypochondria post-test scores in the experimental and control groups were 35.13±1.92 and 37.33±3.07, respectively. The results indicated that ACT decreased hypochondria in the women (P=0.04). Also, the intervention effectively increased positive emotion regulation in the women (P=0.01). Conclusion: In addition to decreasing anxiety and increasing emotion regulation ability under difficult situations, ACT can increase social and psychological adaptability. Also, ACT can effectively decrease interactive and stress and anxiety in divorced women.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-132
Author(s):  
Shahrbanoo Ghahari ◽  
◽  
Leili Jamil ◽  
Nazanin Farrokhi ◽  
Reza Davoodi ◽  
...  

Objective: Marital conflict can be described as the state of tension or stress between couples. Accordingly, couples who are unable to regulate their negative emotions experience fragile relationships. This study aimed to compare the effects of Emotion-Focused Couple Therapy (EFCT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) on Cognitive Emotion Regulation (CER) strategies and marital conflict. Methods: The study sample included 28 married women who were randomly assigned to the EFCT and ACT groups. The questionnaire battery included the Questionnaire of Marital Conflicts, the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, and the Second Edition of the Structured Clinical Interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) (SCID-II). Results: The result of the Independent Samples t-test indicated no difference in pretest scores of the study participants. However, significant differences were determined between the study groups in the posttest phase (P<0.001). Additionally, the Paired Samples t-test results revealed significant differences between pretest and posttest scores between the EFCT (P<0.001) and ACT (P<0.028 for marital conflict, P<0.001 for adaptive CER strategies, & P<0.031 for non-adaptive CER strategies) groups. Moreover, EFCT was clinically more effective than ACT. Accordingly, the effect size of EFCT and ACT for marital conflict was measured as 2.33 and 0.83; respecting adaptive and non-adaptive CER strategies, these values were computed as 2.89 and 2.02 as well as 2.89 and 0.88, respectively. Conclusion: Overall, EFCT and ACTT were effective in improving marital conflict and CER strategies. Besides, EFCT was clinically more effective than ACT in this regard.


2022 ◽  
Vol In Press (In Press) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zohreh Hashemi ◽  
Sanaz Einy ◽  
Matineh Ebadi

Background: The comorbidity of substance use, mood disorders, and anxiety has been proven in various studies, leading to many clinical implications. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) in depression and anxiety in individuals with substance use disorder. Methods: This quasi-experimental study utilized a pretest-posttest design with a control group. The statistical population consisted of all people with substance abuse in Urmia in 2019, including 220 subjects. The sample consisted of 50 individuals with substance use disorders selected by purposive sampling and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group was trained in eight sessions, each lasting 90 min, based on the ACT protocol by Hayes et al. (2004), while the control group did not receive any intervention. The data were obtained using the Beck Depression Inventory and Beck Anxiety Inventory. Pretest and posttest were performed in both groups. The collected data were analyzed by multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) using SPSS23 software. Results: The results showed that after controlling for the pretest effects, a significant difference was observed between the mean posttest scores of the two groups in both depression and anxiety (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Acceptance and commitment therapy is an appropriate strategy to effectively improve depression and anxiety in people with substance use disorder.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 39-51
Author(s):  
Sheida Jabalameli ◽  
Leila Ghasemi

Introduction: The effects of breast cancer and mastectomy on sexuality, an important aspect of personality, emphasize the need for psychological treatments. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on sexual desire in breast cancer patients after mastectomy. Methods: This was a semiexperimental study with an experimental and a control group with a pretest-posttest design. The statistical population included all women with breast cancer in the Isfahan province who had come to Alla charity center in 2017. A sample of 26 women with breast cancer was selected through available sampling and assigned randomly to two groups of 13 subjects each. The experimental group received ACT over 8 sessions and the control group remained on the waiting list until the end of the study. The measurement tool was the Hurlbert Index of Sexual Desire administered before and after the intervention. Data were analyzed with SPSS 16 using an analysis of covariance test. Results: There was a significant difference in the mean scores on sexual desire between the two groups (F = 7.99, p = 0.014). The mean score on sexual desire improved from 0.85 to 1.23 in the treatment group, but there was no change in the control group (1.17 in the pretest vs 1.16 in the posttest). In general, ACT was effective in improving sexual desire in patients (p < 0.05, effect size: 0.48). Conclusion: In general, according to the findings of this research, ACT seems to be effective in improving psychological problems in women with breast cancer.


2021 ◽  
Vol In Press (In Press) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sahar Amiri ◽  
Parvin Ehteshamzadeh ◽  
Fariba Hafezi ◽  
Mohammad Reza Borna

Background: Cognitive-attentional syndrome (CAS) is one of the primary constructs of depression, the treatment of which is highly challenging because of its high prevalence and the emergence of symptoms such as feelings of sadness, emptiness, and hopelessness. Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of behavioral activation (BA) and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) in CAS in patients with depression. Methods: This quasi-experimental research utilized a pretest, posttest, and two-month follow-up design with a control group. The study population comprised 260 patients with a diagnosis of depression who referred to the psychological centers of Ahvaz in 2019. The sample consisted of 45 patients with depression selected by convenience sampling. We randomly divided the participants into two experimental groups (BA and ACT) and a control group (n = 15 per group). The research instrument included the cognitive-attentional syndrome (CAS-1) questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 24.0 with descriptive and inferential statistics, such as mean, standard deviation, and multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA). Results: In terms of CAS and its components, there was a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in the posttest and follow-up phases (P = 0.0001). Besides, ACT and BA significantly reduced CAS and its components in the posttest phase (P = 0.0001). However, the effectiveness of BA in decreasing CAS and its components remained during the follow-up phase. Furthermore, the results showed that ACT was more effective in reducing attention to threat and metacognitive beliefs during the posttest phase. Conclusions: According to research findings, both BA and ACT are efficient therapies in reducing CAS in patients with depression. Thus, both approaches can be used to strengthen treatment interventions to reduce CAS in patients with depression.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 47-59
Author(s):  
Laya Ahmadzadeh ◽  
Maryam Vaezi ◽  
Sheida Sodagar ◽  
Maryam Bahrami hidaji ◽  
Gholam Reza Golmohammad Nazhad

Abstract: (2 Views) Introduction: The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of acceptance and commitment therapy adopted for couples with integrative couple therapy in improving marital conflicts of couples with breast cancer. Methods: In this semi-experimental study, a pre-post design was used. Using available sampling, we approached 200 couples facing breast cancer referred to the educational and therapeutic center of Alzahra Hospital in Tabriz and enrolled 45 couples with the highest scores on the Marital Conflict Questionnaire in the study. They were randomly divided into three groups: two experimental groups and one control group. One of the experimental groups received 8 consecutive 90-minute sessions of acceptance and commitment therapy adopted for couples, and the other experimental group received 16 sessions of integrative couple therapy. The control group did not receive any intervention. The research tool was the Marital Conflict Questionnaire. Data were analyzed using analysis of covariance. Results: The treatment based on acceptance and commitment therapy was effective in reducing marital conflict (P < 0.05). Integrative couple therapy, too, reduced marital conflict in women with cancer (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference between the two treatment modalities (P > 0.05). Conclusion: Both acceptance and commitment therapy and integrative couple therapy are effective approaches to solving couples’ individual and communicative problems.


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