Comparing the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy and physiotherapy on depression, anxiety, and stress in patients with chronic pain

Chronic pain is a pervasive phenomenon that negatively affects many aspects of an individual’s life, research has refer to acceptance and commitment therapy and physiotherapy, but the  main issue of this study is what treatment is more effective for chronic pain

The present study aimed to compare the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and physiotherapy on depression, anxiety, and stress in patients with chronic pain.

The research was a quasi-experimental with pretest-posttest design with control group. The study sample included 75 patients with chronic pain. Among them, 50 patients were selected and placed randomly into acceptance and commitment therapy(Wales and Sorrell, 2012) and control groups. Also, 25 subjects were selected through convenience sampling for the physiotherapy group. Participants completed Lovibond and Lovibond (1995) depression, anxiety, and stress scales in pre-test and post-test.

There was significant difference between ACT and physiotherapy and control group on the scores of anxiety, depression, and stress (p<0/001), but there was no significant difference between physiotherapy and control group on the scores of anxiety, depression, and stress (p> 0/05).

The results of this study showed that ACT is an effective intervention to improve anxiety, depression, and stress in  patients with chronic pain, but physiotherapy cannot reduce anxiety, depression, and stress resulted from chronic pain.