The Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on Social Phobia and Cognitive Fusion in Individuals with Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Keywords:
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, social phobia, cognitive fusion, generalized anxiety disorderAbstract
ABSTRACT
The present study aimed to determine the effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on social phobia and cognitive fusion in individuals with generalized anxiety disorder. This was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest–posttest design and a two-month follow-up with a control group. The statistical population consisted of individuals with generalized anxiety disorder who referred to counseling centers, psychological service clinics, and mental health centers in Tehran in 2025–2026. After the initial screening, eligible participants completed Connor et al.’s Social Phobia Inventory and Gillanders et al.’s Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire. Subsequently, 30 individuals were selected through purposive sampling and were randomly assigned to an experimental group and a control group, with 15 participants in each group. The experimental group received Acceptance and Commitment Therapy based on the model of Hayes, Strosahl, and Wilson in eight 90-minute sessions, while the control group received no intervention during this period. The data were analyzed using the independent-samples t-test, Fisher’s exact test, and two-way repeated-measures analysis of variance in SPSS version 27. The results showed that there was no significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of demographic characteristics. In addition, the results of the two-way repeated-measures analysis of variance indicated that the interaction effect of group and time on social phobia and cognitive fusion was significant. Based on the mean comparisons, scores of social phobia and cognitive fusion in the experimental group decreased from the pretest to the posttest, and this reduction remained largely stable at the two-month follow-up, whereas no considerable change was observed in the control group. Based on the findings, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy can reduce social phobia and cognitive fusion in individuals with generalized anxiety disorder. Therefore, the use of this treatment in counseling centers, psychological clinics, and mental health centers may be beneficial for reducing engagement with anxious thoughts, increasing acceptance of internal experiences, reducing social avoidance, strengthening cognitive defusion, enhancing psychological flexibility, and promoting movement toward values-based behaviors.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Narges Doraghi , Omid Taghipour (Author); Mohammad Hatami Ilkhchi
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
