Effectiveness of Group Psychotherapy Based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on Difficulties Emotion Regulation and Distress Tolerance in Substance Abusers

Today, third wave therapy in psychotherapy, instead of a challenge with cognition, emphasizes the awareness and acceptance of emotions, cognition, and behaviors. Therefore, the present study aimed at Effectiveness of Group Psychotherapy based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on the Degree of Difficulties Emotion Regulation and Distress tolerance of Substance Abusers. This research was quasi-experimental and pre-test, post-test and follow-up design with control group was used. The statistical population of this study is all abusers of materials referring to Kermanshah addiction centers. The sample consisted of 40 people who were selected by convenience sampling method. They were divided into experimental and control groups (n=20) and control group (n=20). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy was performed on the intervention group for 10 sessions. Difficultes in Emotion Regulation Scales and distress tolerance were completed in three stages before intervention, after intervention and follow up of the three months by all participants. Data were analyzed by repeated measures with SPSS-20. The results of this study showed a significant difference in the difficulty in emotional regulation and distress tolerance after intervention between the experimental and control groups (P<0.01). There was also a significant difference between the mean scores of difficulty in emotional regulation and distress tolerance before, after intervention and follow up in the test group (P<0.001). According to the results of this study, in general, empirical support for the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy reduces the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation and increasing the distress tolerance.