Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on Psychological Capital and Emotional Expression Styles in Women with Multiple Sclerosis

Background and Objective: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an unpredictable and one of the most important life-altering diseases which gradually leads to disability. This study aimed to investigate the effect of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on psychological capital and emotional expression styles of female patients with MS in the Iranian MS Society during 2019-2020. Materials and Methods: The statistical population of the study consisted of all females with MS who were members of the Iranian MS Society in 2019. In total, 36 patients were selected voluntarily who were randomly divided into three groups (ACT, placebo, and control). The intervention was held in eight 90-min weekly sessions for the intervention and the placebo groups at the office of the Iranian MS Society, Tehran, Iran. All groups were re-evaluated at the end of the intervention and also two months later (i.e., follow-up stage). The obtained data were analyzed using repeated-measures analysis of variance. Results: Based on the results, ACT affected the components of hope and resilience at the significance level of 0.01 and the components of self-efficacy and optimism at the significance level of 0.05, compared to the control group. Moreover, the ACT was able to increase the components of hope and resilience at the significance level of 0.01 and the component of optimism at the significance level of 0.05 in comparison with the placebo group. Conclusions: The ACT increased psychological capital components, including hope, optimism, resilience, and self-efficacy in patients with MS.