The Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment-Based Therapy on Emotional Instability and Self-Injurious Behaviors of People with Borderline Personality Disorder and Drug Abusers

The present study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment-based therapy on emotional instability and self-injurious behaviors of people with borderline personality disorder and substance abuse. This research was a semi-experimental study with the pre-test-post-test method and a control group. the statistical population was all addicts living in three addiction treatment camps in Tabriz and Ahar in the spring of 2021. First, Milon's multi-axis questionnaire was administered and 30 people who had a score higher than 85 for borderline personality disorder were purposefully selected as the research sample and randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. The data collection tool was Milon's MCMI-III Multiaxial Questionnaire (Milon, 1987), SHI self-injurious behaviors questionnaire (Sanson et al., 1998), and EIS emotional instability scale (Malachich and Goldberg, 2007). The experimental group received two ACT therapy sessions in 8 sessions of 90 minutes each week. The results of the research showed that by controlling the effect of the pre-test, there was a significant difference between the post-test average of self-injurious behaviors (f=59.513, p=0.001) and emotional instability (f=78.122, p=0.001) in the two experimental groups. And there is evidence of a significant difference. Based on this, it can be concluded that treatment based on acceptance and commitment is effective in self-harming behaviors and emotional instability.