Differential Effects of Existentialism Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Compassion-Focused Therapy on Psychological Capital and Self-Compassion

The present study aimed to compare the effectiveness of existentialism acceptance and commitment therapy and compassion-focused therapy on psychological capital and selfcompassion of depressed adolescent girls. The study was a quasi-experimental with pre-test, post-test, and follow-up design. In the study, 45 depressed adolescent girls aged 15 to 19 years were selected through purposive sampling and were randomly assigned to two experimental groups and one control group (15 people in each group). Then experimental groups were treated with existentialism acceptance and commitment therapy and compassionfocused therapy for 10 sessions. Each group was assessed before, after, and one month after the interventions with the Psychological Capital Questionnaire and the Self-Compassion Scale. The data were analyzed using the multivariate analysis of covariance. The results showed that in the post-test stage, the groups of existentialism acceptance and commitment therapy and compassion-focused therapy were significantly different from the control group in terms of their psychological capital. However, in the follow-up phase, only the existentialism acceptance and commitment therapy was significantly different from the control group. In regards to self-compassion, both therapies were significantly different in both post-test and follow-up stages from the control group. The results showed that the difference between the two therapies was significant only in the self-compassion variable in the post-test stage. According to the findings, both existentialism acceptance and commitment therapy and compassion-focused therapy are suitable options for increasing psychological capital and self-compassion in depressed adolescent girls.