Efficacy of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Compared to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on Anger and Interpersonal Relationships of Male Students

摘要

Objective: The aim of the present study was to determine the efficacy of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT)compared to cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) on anger and interpersonal relationships among male students.Method: In the present study, several universities were selected from the public universities in Tehran province, basedon random cluster sampling. Then, 400 students from selected universities were selected randomly and AggressionQuestionnaire (AGQ) was administered on them. After collecting information, among the participants who gained scoreshigher than the average, 30 were selected based on the lottery and randomly (sorting their names in alphabetical orderand randomly selecting them) and then were placed randomly in ACT (n = 15) and CBT (n = 15) groups. Also, theFundamental Interpersonal Relation Orientation- Behavior (FIRO-B) and Aggression Questionnaire (AGQ) wasperformed on both groups before and after intervention.Results: The results indicated that at the end of treatment, there was a significant decrease in the degree of angeramong the participants and a significant improvement in all subscales of interpersonal relationships. Also, a significantdifference was found between the 2 groups of ACT and CBT in terms of anger changes. Considering that the angerchanges in the ACT group were higher, it can be concluded that the ACT group had more changes than the CBT group,but there was no significant difference between the 2 groups of ACT and CBT in terms of FIRO-B subscales.Conclusion: In some cases, such as anger, ACT has a better effect than CBT, and in others, such as interpersonalproblems, it is as effective as CBT.