Comparison of the effect of acceptance and commitment therapy and self-compassion therapy on cognitive flexibility in anxious female students of the second year of high school

This study was conducted with the aim of comparing the effect of acceptance and commitment therapy and self-compassion on cognitive flexibility in anxious female students of the second year of high school. The research method was semi-experimental in two stages: pre-test and post-test. In this study, 30 people were selected through convenience sampling and randomly assigned to two experimental groups and one control group (10 people in each group). Then the experimental groups underwent 8 sessions of acceptance and commitment and self-compassion therapy, and the control group did not receive any therapy. Anxiety questionnaire and cognitive flexibility scale were used to collect data. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance. The results showed that in the post-test stage, there is a significant difference between the acceptance and commitment and self-compassion treatment groups compared to the control group in increasing cognitive flexibility. Also, the results showed that there is no significant difference between the two treatments of acceptance and commitment and self-compassion in terms of effectiveness on psychological flexibility. Based on the findings, both acceptance and commitment therapy and self-compassion are suitable options for increasing cognitive flexibility in anxious female students of the second secondary level.