Comparing the Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Mindfulness Training, and Combined Method (Mindfulness-Based and Acceptance and Commitment) on Depression

By 2020, depression will have been the second disease after cardiovascular diseases that will threaten humans’ health and life throughout the world. The study was conducted to compare the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), mindfulness-based therapy (MBT), and a combination of ACT and MBT on depression. The study was quasi-experimental with pretest and posttest and control group. The population was all patients with depression, average age of 14, admitted to Yasouj Counseling Centers in 2016-2017. A sample of 60 patients with depression was selected using convenient sampling method and was randomly assigned into three experimental and one control groups. The experimental groups received 8 sessions of therapy and the control group received no intervention. Beck Depression Inventory (1997) was used to collect data. The results of multivariate analysis of covariance showed a significant difference in the posttest scores of depression among the four group (P<0.05, F=26.43, df=3). The results also showed that MBT, ACT, and combined therapy had significant effects on depression, but the combined therapy was significantly more effective than MBT and ACT (P<0.05, df=3). However, the difference between MBT and ACT groups was not significant (P>0.05, df=3). Hence, the effect of these methods on the subjects was similar. Based on the results of this study, it can be concluded that combining the MBT and ACT is more effective than using each of these methods alone.