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The Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on Emotion Regulation, Self-Compassion, and Cognitive Fusion in Individuals with Prolonged Grief Disorder

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Psychology, Sari Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sari, Iran

2 Department of Educational Management, Ram.C. Islamic Azad University, Ramsar, Iran

10.30476/smsj.2025.103075.1544

Abstract

Introduction: Individuals with prolonged grief disorder experience difficulties in emotion regulation. Their quality of life is also significantly diminished by cognitive fusion with specific beliefs and thoughts. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on emotion regulation, cognitive fusion, and self-compassion in individuals with prolonged grief disorder.
Methods: This quasi-experimental study employed a pretest-posttest control group design. In 2023, a purposive sample of 30 individuals with prolonged grief disorder was selected and non-randomly assigned to either an experimental group (n=15) or a control group (n=15). The experimental group received ACT over eight 75-minute sessions. Data were collected using the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (Gross and John, 2003), the Self-Compassion Scale (Neff, 2003), the Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire (Gillanders et al., 2010), and the Prolonged Grief Disorder Questionnaire (Prigerson et al., 2021). Data were analyzed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) in SPSS software, version 23.
Results: The findings showed a significant difference between the two groups at posttest for emotion regulation (F=33.480, P=0.001), self-compassion (F=28.541, P=0.001), and cognitive fusion (F=4.803, P=0.001). Specifically, ACT significantly increased scores for emotion regulation and self-compassion and decreased the scores of cognitive fusions (P<0.05).
Conclusion: The ACT could be utilized to enhance emotion regulation and self-compassion, as well as to reduce cognitive fusion, in individuals with prolonged grief disorder.

Keywords

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Sadra Medical Journal
Volume 13, Issue 4
October 2025
Pages 795-809
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