A Comparison of Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Emotional Focused Therapy (EFT) on Physical-social anxiety in Obese Individuals

Noora  Shahmiri; Jafar  Shabani; Javanshir  Asadi

doi:10.18502/ijdo.v18i2.21649

Noora Shahmiri Ph. D. Student, Gorgan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Gorgan, Iran.
Jafar Shabani Associate Professor of Psychology, Payam Noor University, Tehran, Iran.
Javanshir Asadi Assistant Professor of Psychology, Gorgan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Gorgan, Iran.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/ijdo.v18i2.21649

Keywords: Acceptance and commitment therapy, Emotion-focused therapy, Physical-social anxiety

Abstract

Objective: The present study was conducted to make a comparison between the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy and emotion-focused therapy on Physical-social anxiety in obese individuals.

Materials and Methods: The research method was a quasi-experimental design with a pre-test/post-test design and follow-up with a control group. 45 women aged 20 to 30 were selected through convenience sampling and randomly assigned to two experimental groups and a control group (15 people in each group). Then, the experimental groups were treated for 8 treatment sessions, 90 minutes each week.

Results: The results showed, there was a significant difference between the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy and emotion- focused therapy on Physical-social anxiety in obese women. Accordingly, acceptance and commitment therapy was more effective than emotion-focused therapy in reducing Physical-social anxiety in obese individuals.

Conclusion: Acceptance and commitment therapy and emotion-focused therapy can be effective strategies for reducing socio-physical anxiety in overweight women.