Effectiveness of Group Therapy Based on Acceptance and Commitment on Cognitive Emotion Regulation and Alexithymia of Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

Introduction: Type 2 diabetes is the most common chronic disease that creates a lot of restrictions for patients and their families. Hence promotion of psychological characteristics of this group has been considered by many therapists. This study aimed at investigating the effect of group therapy based on acceptance and commitment on cognitive emotion regulation and alexithymia of patients with type 2 diabetes.

Methods: The present research was semi-experimental with a pre-test and post-test design with a control group. The population of the research included all patients with type 2 diabetes that had referred to health care centers of Ahvaz city, during year 2015. Overall, 30 patient were selected through available sampling method and randomly assigned to 2 equal groups (each group consisted of 15 people). The experimental group took part in eight 90-minute sessions of group therapy based on acceptance and commitment and the control group was placed on the waiting list. Groups completed the Garnefski et al. cognitive emotion regulation questionnaire and Bagby et al. Toronto alexithymia scale as a pre-test and post-test. Data were analyzed by Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MONCOVA) method and using the SPSS-21 software.

Results: The findings showed that there was a significant difference between the averages of cognitive emotion regulation and alexithymia of experimental and control groups in the post-test stage. On the other hand, the method of group therapy based on acceptance and commitment significantly led to an increase in cognitive emotion regulation and decrease in alexithymia of patients with type 2 diabetes (P < 0.01).

Conclusions: According to the effect of group therapy based on acceptance and commitment on cognitive emotion regulation and alexithymia, it is suggested for counselors, therapists, and clinical psychologists to use the mentioned method to increase cognitive emotion regulation and decrease alexithymia of patients with type 2 diabetes.