Acceptance and Commitment therapy and Eating Disorders : A Theoretical and Research Review

Eating disorders are one of the most challenging disorders to treat, especially in patients who suffer from these disorders for a long time. Despite experimental supportive therapies for anorexia, symptom improvement occurs in only less than 50% of patients seeking treatment. There is also no empirically supported treatment for anorexia nervosa. Acceptance and commitment therapy, which is part of cognitive-behavioral therapies, emphasizes accepting these experiences and changing one’s behaviors instead of changing one’s inner experiences. The basic premise of this treatment is that these painful internal experiences are unchangeable, but the patient’s response to these experiences can be changed by creating psychological flexibility. The purpose of this study is to review the studies that examined the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy in eating disorders or obesity in Iran. These studies were selected by searching sites (SID and Iran Medex).