Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment-Based Therapy (ACT) on cognitive emotion regulation and distress tolerance in substance abusers

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of acceptance-based and commitment -based therapy on emotional cognitive regulation and distress tolerance in substance abusers. Method: This was a quasi-experimental study with pre-test and post-test with control group. Thirty men over 20 years of age were referred to the Mashhad Drug Abuse Clinics who were undergoing treatment. Statistical population includes men with history of drug use in Mashhad in 1398. Purposeful non-random sampling was used for men with a history of substance abuse. Subjects were randomly divided into two experimental and control groups and the experimental group participated in 8 sessions of acceptance and commitment therapy, while the control group received no intervention. Data were collected using Garnefsky & Craig Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) and Simons & Gahr Anxiety Tolerance Questionnaire (DTS). Data were analyzed using covariance analysis. Results: The results showed that there was a significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental and control groups and acceptance and commitment therapy significantly increased cognitive emotion regulation and distress tolerance in men with substance abuse (p< 0.05). Conclusion: Therefore, interventions based on this approach can be useful in regulating the emotional excitement and tolerance of distress in males.

Keywords:

Acceptance and Commitment , Distress Tolerance , Emotional Cognitive Regulation , Substance Use.