The Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Based Training on the Maladaptive Schemas of Female Students with Bulimia Nervosa

Background & Aims of the Study: Recently, a lot of discussions have been done about the third wave of behavioral and cognitive approaches, particularly in areas with eating disorders. The aim of current research is the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment based training on the maladaptive schemas of female students with bulimia nervosa. The design of current study is as quasi-experiment research with pre-test and post-test with control group. Statistical population consists all high school female students of Arak city in the 2013-13 academic years. Samples were selected at first by multi stage cluster sampling method and after completing young schema questionnaire short form and Diagnostic Interview, were placement using random sampling method in two experimental and control groups (N = 20 per group). The experimental group participated in 8 sessions of acceptance and commitment based training and control group received no intervention. The gathered data were analyzed using Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA). The results show that there exist significant differences between the pre-test and post-test scores of the experimental group. This difference is significant at the level of 0.01. Therefore it seems that acceptance and commitment based training decreased maladaptive schemas of students with bulimia nervosa. The results of current research explain the importance of acceptance and commitment therapy in decreasing maladaptive schema of female students with bulimia nervosa. Thus, interventions based on this approach in schools for students lead to decreasing the psychological problems.