The effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on emotional avoidance and dimensions of mental fatigue in women with multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic progressive disease of the central nervous system and its symptoms are fatigue and decreased functional capacity. The aim of this study was the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on emotional avoidance and mental fatigue’ dimensions in women with multiple sclerosis.

The present study was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest design. Subjects with an age range of 20-40 years and using a scale of physical disability (EDSS) of one to four were purposefully and voluntarily selected and randomly assigned into experimental and control groups. Both groups answered the Kennedy (2015) Emotional Avoidance Questionnaire and Fisk (1994) fatigue Impact scale in the pre-test and post-test stages. The experimental group received 10 sessions of acceptance and commitment treatment once a week for 1.5 hours. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS23 software and multivariate covariance analysis.

The results of multivariate covariance analysis indicated that acceptance and commitment therapy is effective in reducing emotional avoidance and cognitive fatigue in women with multiple sclerosis (P≥0.001).

Based on the results of this study, acceptance and commitment therapy can be used to reduce emotional avoidance and fatigue symptoms (physical, cognitive and social) of women with multiple sclerosis in medical centers.