The Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment-Based Therapy on Reducing Anxiety, Depression, and Post Traumatic Stress in Women Affected by Mate-Marriage

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on reducing anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder in women affected by spousal extramarital relationships.

This is a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest design with control group. The statistical population of the study consisted of all couples affected by extramarital affairs who referred to Birjand Welfare Counseling Center in the second half of 1997. Of these, 30 subjects who met the inclusion criteria were selected through available sampling and randomly assigned to either experimental (n = 15) and control (n = 15) groups. Intervention method was based on commitment and acceptance therapy with 8 sessions of training to the experimental group and the control group received no treatment. Data were collected using the Kian et al. Traumatic Stress Questionnaire (3) and the Lovebond and Lovebond Depression Anxiety Inventory (21). Data analysis was performed using covariance analysis.

The results of the present study showed an increase in the mean scores of the variables of anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress in the experimental group at post-test compared to the intervention group (P <0.01).

The results of this study indicate that acceptance and commitment therapy is effective in reducing anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder in women affected by spouse trans marital relations.