The Effect of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on the Sexual Function and Life Satisfaction in Women with Substance Use Disorders

Substance use disorders are serious, common and highly disabling mental disorders in men and women, which can cause substantial distress and impairment in individuals and place an enormous burden on society. Furthermore, they are associated with significant health related consequences including changes in brain circuits, increased depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, sleep disorders, neurocognitive disorders, sexual dysfunction and decreased life satisfaction. Various pharmacological and psychological treatments such as detoxification, methadone maintenance therapy, neurofeedback, analytical psychotherapy, behavioral therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy and rational emotive behavior therapy are used to treat substance use disorders and their health related consequences. Nonetheless, recently, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy has been increasingly gaining momentum among therapists as well as academicians. As a behavioral and cognitive intervention, this therapeutic approach uses acceptance and mindfulness processes as well as commitment and behavior change processes to produce psychological flexibility. Therefore, the aim of present study was to investigate the effect of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on the sexual function and life satisfaction in women with substance use disorders.

This is a two-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental research. The population of the study was all women with substance use disorders in Ghoochan- Iran. Thirty women with substance use disorder were selected through convenience Sampling. The participants (N=30) were assigned to the experimental and control groups in equal numbers. The participants in each group were matched for demographic characteristics with the comparison group. The participants were administered Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS; Diener, Emmons, Larsen & Griffin, 1985) and Female Sexual Function Indices (FSFI; Rosen et al., 2000). Following pre-test administration, the experimental group participated in 8 sessions of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, while the control group did not receive any treatment. The post-test was administered at the conclusion of the treatment. Inclusion criteria were having substance use disorder, non-participation in other treatment programs during the study and informed consent. Exclusion criteria were absenteeism of more than one session, participation in the other psychotherapies and unwillingness to continue cooperating with the research project. Multivariate analysis of covariance was used to analyze the data through SPSS software version 22.

The age average of participants in the experimental and control groups were 39.21±7.41 and 41.66±6.99 years, respectively. There were no significant differences between the two groups in the demographic characteristics, namely, age average, education and employment status. Results of multivariate covariance analysis showed that sexual function (P

It can be concluded that Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is useful for the improvement of sexual function. In addition, it increases life satisfaction in women with substance use disorders. As such, it is suggested that therapists should use this therapeutic approach for improving sexual function and life satisfaction among women with substance use disorder.