Comparison of the Effectiveness Behavioral Activation Treatment Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on Executive Functions of Learning the Rules, Inhibiting Impulsivity, and Flexibility in Patients with Depression

Little attention has been paid to the impairment of executive functions (EF) in depression disorders when evaluating the effectiveness of therapies. The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the effects of two important therapies of behavioral therapy approach, namely therapy based on Behavioral Activation Therapy (BA) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) on the three executive function components of inhibition, learning rules, and flexibility in patients with depression.

This research was quasi-experimental field research with a pre-posttest and control group with a three-month follow-up. The statistical population of the study consisted of all clients diagnosed with depression in the psychology and counseling centers of Ahvaz in 2019. Forty-five of them were selected by purposive sampling and randomly assigned to two experimental groups and one control group. To collect the data Tower Test and Word Context Test of D-KEFS were used.

The results showed that ACT and BA significantly improve the learning of rules, inhibition, and mental flexibility of subjects with depression immediately after treatment. However, the effectiveness of BA on learning the rules and inhibition was significantly higher than ACT. In the follow-up phase, only the effectiveness of BA on the two components of rule learning and inhibition remained stable, and ACT did not retain its effectiveness on any of the components of EF after a two-month period.

Considering the different range of intensity and duration of effect of BA and ACT on different EF components of patients with depression, our findings can be useful for selecting and designing the most appropriate treatment approach according to the needs of each patient.