The Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on Social Adaptation and Resilience of Adolescents with Social Anxiety

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on social adaptation and resilience of adolescents with social anxiety. The current study was a semi-experimental study with a pre-test-post-test design with a control group. The statistical population of the research included all students aged 15 to 18 years with social anxiety in education district 5 of Tehran in 1402-1401, who were selected by multi-stage cluster random sampling and divided into two experimental groups (15 people) and control. (15 people) were placed. The experimental group received 8 90-minute sessions of treatment based on acceptance and commitment, and the control group remained waiting for treatment during this period. The method of data collection was based on the California standard questionnaire of social adjustment (Clark et al., 1953) and resilience (Connor and Davidson, 2003). The analysis of the information obtained from the implementation of the questionnaires was done through SPSS software in two descriptive and inferential sections (MANCOVA). The results of the research showed that the treatment based on acceptance and commitment increased the adjustment (personal and social) in adolescents with social anxiety. The findings also showed that treatment based on acceptance and commitment improved resilience in adolescents with social anxiety. Based on this, treatment based on acceptance and commitment can be used as a useful intervention method to increase social adaptation and resilience, and as a result, better efficiency of adolescents with social anxiety.