The effects of Creative Hopelessness on the avoidant behaviors of undergraduate students with high social avoidance tendency: Focused on subjective evaluations of “Change Agenda”

Creative Hopelessness is intended to decrease the client’s motivation to control the unpleasant thoughts and emotion in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. The main aim of this study is to investigate the effects of the Creative Hopelessness on the subjective measures of believability and motivation of Change Agenda. Change Agenda is the rules expressed in the following lines: if I could control undesirable thoughts and emotion, I could solve the problem. Undergraduate students (N=35) with high social avoidance tendency were randomly assigned to Creative Hopelessness group, Control group, or Placebo group. Creative Hopelessness group received a psychological education about the futility of making efforts to control unwanted thoughts and feelings. Control group received a psychological education to increase the motivation to control the unpleasant thoughts and emotion. Placebo group received a psychological education of the general clinical psychology about anxiety. The reduction of believability and motivation of Change Agenda following the intervention were found only in the Creative Hopelessness group.