Cox, M. (2012). A Pilot Study Investigating the Effectiveness of 2 Transdiagnostic Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Groups (Unpublished MSc dissertation). The University of Huddersfield, England.
It has been firmly established in clinical trials that Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is an effective treatment of mild to moderate anxiety and depressive illnesses. However, these tested protocols (upon which CBT’s evidence is based) do not easily lend themselves for use with patients considered to have complex needs. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), a third generation of behaviour therapy, is able to overcome these difficulties by offering a viable means of working transdiagnostically with complex patients. The aim of this practice based study was to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of 2 transdiagnostic ACT groups. These groups were delivered in a secondary care Psychological Therapies Service to participants with complex problems. The study used mixed methods of data collection including standardised session by session measures, ACT specific measures (of psychological flexibility) and participant feedback questionnaires. The data was analysed to determine statistically reliable change and clinically significant change. The feedback questionnaires facilitated pluralistic interpretations. The results indicated that the groups were clinically effective and the majority of participants experienced significant improvements to their clinical symptoms. Group 2 was substantially more effective in promoting psychological flexibility. Participant feedback corroborated all these findings. This practice based study is limited as it has no control group or effective means of restricting confounding variables. It is therefore impossible to determine whether or not these clinical improvements came about as a direct result of the participant’s involvement with the ACT groups. This study is the first (known) of its kind to investigate the transdiagnostic capabilities of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. It is therefore recommended that this subject area is rigorously explored in order to realise the full potential of this promising new therapy.