The Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) in psychosocial flexibility, Emotion Regulation, and Psychological Adjustment in People with Stuttering

Stuttering is a controversial, multifaceted, psychomotor speech disorder occuring in the natural course of a person's speech, coupled with behavioral, cognitive, and attitudinal changes. The purpose of the study was to examine the effectiveness of ACT on psychological flexibility, emotion regulation, and psychological adjustment in stutterers. In doing so, from among the people admitted to speech therapy center, 30 people were selected by convenient sampling and randomly divided into experimental and control groups. Both groups were examined in terms of discomfort and improper speech before and after participating in training sessions and 6 months later. The experimental group participated in 12 sessions of ACT, but the control group received no training. Data were analyzed using covariance analysis using SPSS-22. The results of covariance analysis showed that ACT is effective in improving the speech performance of patients with stuttering. Hence, using this method, one can help reduce development of distress and improper and unclear speech of these patients.