The Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment-based Therapy on Aggression and Cognitive Flexibility of Female Students with Self-injurious Behavior in High School in Shiraz

Adolescence is a period in which the prevalence of self-harming and aggressive behaviors increases due to physical, psychological, and social changes. Acceptance and commitment therapy is an intervention that may work for these people. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment-based therapy on aggression and cognitive flexibility of female students with self-injurious behavior in high school in Shiraz.

This was a quasi-experimental study with pre-test, post-test, follow-up, and control group. The statistical population of this study included all adolescent girls aged 14-18 years referred to the Education Counseling Clinic in Shiraz in the academic year 2020-2021. By purposive sampling method, 30 people were purposefully selected and divided into two groups of experimental (15 people) and control (15 people). The research instruments included the Aggression Questionnaire and the Cognitive Flexibility Questionnaire, which were completed by the participants in the pre-test, post-test, and two-month follow-up stages. In the experimental group, acceptance and commitment therapy was performed in 8 sessions of 90 minutes, while the control group did not receive treatment. Repeated measure ANOVA was used to analyze the data.

The time effect source, group effect source, and time effect group and source interaction test results were significant in aggression and flexibility scores at the level of 0.001. In the experimental group, in the post-test stage, aggression scores decreased while flexibility increased compared to the pre-test.

According to the results, acceptance and commitment therapy effectively reduced aggression and increased flexibility in students with self-injurious behavior. Therefore, acceptance and commitment therapy can be used to minimize psychological damage in adolescents.