The Effect of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on Cognitive Distortion and Rumination in Couples Engaged in Marital Infidelity

Infidelity is one of the most pernicious interpersonal issues in the family, which in many cases could lead to emotional and behavioral symptoms in the person, particularly women who have been betrayed. In this regard, the purpose of this study was to determine the effect of acceptance and commitment therapy on cognitive distortion and rumination in couples engaged in marital infidelity.

This research method was quasi-experimental with a pretest-posttest and control group. The sample included thirty couples engaged in marital infidelity. The control and the experimental group included fifteen couples in each. They were selected by the available sampling method. The data were collected by the Rumination Scales(Nolen-Hoeksema & Morrow, 1991) and Interpersonal Cognitive Distortions Scale(Hamamci & Buyukozturk, 2004). Then experiment group underwent eight sessions of ninety minutes weekly for one month, acceptance and commitment therapy; the control group didn’t receive any. Data were analyzed using ANCOVA and MANCOVA.

The results showed acceptance and commitment therapy could significantly reduce cognitive distortion and rumination in couples engaged in marital infidelity.

Thus, acceptance and commitment therapy is an effective way of improving cognitive distortion and rumination in couples engaged in marital infidelity. So it can be used by counselors and therapists in family therapy.