The effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on psychological hardiness and distress tolerance in female patients with psoriasis

Psoriasis is a chronic and common skin disease that affects approximately 2% of the population. The impact of this disease on the quality of life of patients is very high even in cases where a very small level of the body is involved. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on psychological hardiness and distress tolerance in patients with psoriasis.

The present research method is quasi-experimental with pre-test-post-test design and one-month follow-up with a control group. The statistical population consists of all female patients who referred to the skin and hair clinics of Boroujerd in 2022 who received a definitive diagnosis of psoriasis. Among them, 30 patients with psoriasis whose depression rate was higher than the cut-off point were selected by non-random sampling method and alternated in experimental group (acceptance and commitment therapy) and control group. (15 people in each group). Acceptance and commitment therapy was performed according to the Protocol (Hassanzadeh, 2020) in 8 sessions of 90 minutes in the experimental group. Data were collected using the Lang and Golett (2003) Psychological Hardiness Questionnaire, Simmons and Gaher (2005) and Beck (1996) Depression Inventory. Data were analyzed using SPSS-22 software and repeated measures analysis of variance.

The results showed that acceptance and commitment therapy is effective on psychological hardiness (p<0.001) and distress tolerance (p<0.001) in patients with psoriasis.

It can be concluded that acceptance and commitment therapy was effective on psychological hardiness and distress tolerance in patients with psoriasis and this treatment can be used to reduce the adverse effects of the disease on patients' lives and take supportive measures.