The effect of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on the reduction of anxious thoughts in students

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on the reduction of anxious thoughts in Islamic Azad University Students of Hamadan. The study is a quasi-experimental research with a pretest-posttest control group design. The population of the study was all Islamic Azad University students of Hamadan (N=15000). The sample of the study consisted of 30 undergraduate students (20 females and 10 males) from the mentioned population. To sample was selected from the candidates who received the highest scores in a test of anxious thoughts by Wells, and then was randomly divided into control and experimental groups. This instruments used was Wells’ anxiety though scale. This instrument measures three scales of social anxiety, generalized anxiety, and health anxiety. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy protocol was conducted through 8 treatment sessions and one-month control session. The results indicated that Acceptance and Commitment Therapy reduces anxious thoughts p<0.05).

Keywords

• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
• Anxious thoughts
• generalized anxiety disorder
• social Phobia
• health anxiety