Effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on symptoms of emotional PTSD in women affected by infidelity

Concealed relationships outside the marital field always cause a severe blow to the parties; these types of relationships cause symptoms similar to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that is one of the most difficult problems in counseling and psychotherapy. The present study aimed to determine the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on decreasing symptoms of emotional PTSD. Research method was semi-experimental with pre-test and post-test with control group. Study population were all women affected by infidelity, which 30 women that in scores emotional PTSD were higher than normal level were selected through available sampling method and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group received 9 sessions of acceptance and commitment group training, but the control group not received any training. Finally data were analyzed in two statistical levels, descriptive and inferential statistics(ANCOVA). Result shows that acceptance and commitment therapy is effective (P<0/001 و F=478/37) in reducing the symptoms of emotional PTSD of women affected by infidelity.