Applied Psychology

Applied Psychology

The Effectiveness of T Trauma-Focused ACT on Depression Symptoms and Distress Tolerance in Students with a History of Love Trauma

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Ali Parvandi 1
Ezzatollah Ahmadi 2
Reza Abdi 2
Rahim Yousefi 2
1 Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University, Tabriz, Iran
2 Associate professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University, Tabriz, Iran
10.48308/apsy.2025.238760.1779
Abstract
Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of trauma-focused Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) on depressive symptoms and distress tolerance in students with a history of romantic trauma.
 
Methods: A quasi-experimental design with pretest, posttest, and three-month follow-up, including a control group, was employed. The statistical population consisted of university students in Kermanshah in 2024 who had experienced romantic trauma. Twenty-eight participants were selected through convenience sampling and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The Beck Depression Inventory-II and the Distress Tolerance Scale were administered at three time points. The experimental group received ten 75-minute sessions of trauma-focused ACT based on Harris’s (2021) protocol. Data were analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVA.
 
Results: Significant effects of time and time × group interaction were observed for both dependent variables at the 0.001 level, while the main group effect was significant at the 0.05 level. Bonferroni post hoc analyses showed significant differences between pretest and posttest, as well as pretest and follow-up, in the experimental group (p < 0.05). No significant differences were found between posttest and follow-up (p > 0.05).
 
Conclusion: Trauma-focused ACT is an effective intervention for reducing depressive symptoms and enhancing distress tolerance in students with romantic trauma histories.
Keywords
depression symptoms
distress tolerance
Trauma-Focused ACT
Subjects
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