A Comparison between the effect of Acceptance and Commitment (ACT) individual and group Therapy on Panic Attack & Agoraphobia

Subject Areas : Educational

Peyman Dousti ¹ , Golnaz Ghodrati ² , Mohammad Esmaeil Ebrahimi ³

1 - Department of Psychology, Tehran North Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
2 - Department of Psychology, Khatam University, Tehran, Iran.
3 - Department of Psychology, Hamadan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Hamadan, Iran

Received: 2019-05-20 Accepted : 2019-07-13 Published : 2022-11-22

Keywords: Group therapy, Panic attack, Agoraphobia, Fear and Phobia, acceptance and commitment therapy, Individual therapy,

Abstract :

This study has been pursued in order to compare the effectiveness of individual and group ACT on both panic and agoraphobia. This research is semi-experimental executed in pre-post forms with two experimental groups, and no control groups. The statistical population of the study consisted of all clients of a psychology clinic in Tehran between February 2018 to June 2018 who had been diagnosed to have panic attack and agoraphobia disorders according to DSM 5 and responses to Barlow and Zinbarg (1996) Panic & Agoraphobia questionnaire. The sample consists of 6 in individual therapy and 10 in group therapy. Individual therapy for per individual was held in eight 60-minute sessions and group therapy was held in eight 120-minute. The therapy plan for both groups included the same practice and discussed topics. Data analysis was done in descriptive statistical method and covariance by SPSS V.22 software. The result manifests group ACT in variables related to panic attack, agoraphobia and fear of crowded places has more effect in comparison with individual therapy. In the case of inner fears, no considerable difference between group therapy and individual therapy was observed. Based on these findings, the variables in which group treatment is effective are more related to interpersonal relationships, but internal fear is more likely to be attributed to individual defects.

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