Comparing the effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Compassion Focused Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy enriched with Compassion on social adjustment of women with depression and marital conflict

This study aimed to  compare the effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) and Compassion Enriched Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on social adjustment of married women with depression and marital conflict.

The statistical population included married women suffering from depression and marital conflicts who referred to counseling centers in Mashhad from 2020-10-01 to 2021-03-10. The participant (n=60) were selected by purposive sampling and randomly divided into three experimental and control groups. The intervention was performed in eight 90-minute training sessions for the experimental groups and the control group did not receive any intervention. All four groups answered the Adult Bell Form (Social Adjustment) questionnaire before the intervention, at the end of the intervention and 30 days after the intervention. Data were analyzed by univariate analysis of covariance and analysis of variance for repeated measures.

There was a significant difference between the mean of pretest, posttest and follow-up of social adjustment in the group of treatment based on acceptance and commitment, treatment focused on compassion, acceptance and commitment enriched with compassion and control (P= 0.001). Also, there was a significant difference between social adjustment in the post-test stage of the mentioned groups and the group of acceptance and commitment enriched with compassion showed more difference.

Therapies based on acceptance and commitment and focused on compassion and therapy based on acceptance and commitment enriched with compassion, are effective on social adjustment and the effect of therapy based on acceptance and commitment enriched with compassion is greater on social adjustment.