The Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Group Therapy on Anxiety, Depression and Rumination in the mothers of Children with Special needs

Background: Acceptance and commitment therapy is a third generation behavior therapy mainly used in treatment of mood and anxiety disorders. The main goal of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment group therapy on anxiety, depression and Rumination in mothers of children with special needs. Materials and Methods: The statistical society included mothers of children with special needs in Hamedan city. In this semi-experimental design, by using convenience sampling;18mothers were selected and they were divided into two groups of intervention and control randomly. Mental evaluation included a clinical interview (based on DSM-V), a clinical psychologist conducted Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and Rumination Response Scale (RRS). Depression, anxiety and rumination Scales were assessed at three stages: prior and after first intervention session and three weeks after the intervention sessions. Data were subjected to descriptive statistics and the analysis with a mixed ANOVA design. Results: Findings showed significant decrease in scales of Depression, Anxiety and Rumination and in post-test and follow up after Acceptance and commitment therapy intervention. Thus, group treatment based on the acceptance and commitment therapy caused significant changes in the treatment of anxiety, depression and rumination in mothers of children with special needs. Conclusion: The result of this study highlights the efficient role of acceptance and commitment group therapy on mothers of children with special needs and it introduces new horizons in clinical interventions.