effect of acceptance-based behavior therapy on severity of symptoms, worry and quality of life in women with generalized anxiety disorder

objective: acceptance-based behavior therapy (abbt) is a new psychotherapy for generalized anxiety disorder (gad). the current study intended to compare severity of symptoms, worry and quality of life of gad female patients between abbt and control. methods: this study was a randomized clinical trial. the sample included 18 women with gad referred to psychiatrists in isfahan, iran. patients were assigned in 2 groups randomly (abbt and control group without any psychotherapy). both groups received medication. the intervention in abbt group was conducted based on roemer & orsillo's manual for acceptance-based behavior therapy for gad. 12 therapeutic sessions administered in shariati psychiatric clinic of isfahan. the instruments included the gad-7 inventory, penn state worry questionnaire (pswq) and short form health survey -12 revised version (sf-12v2). the data were analyzed using the multivariate analysis of variance (mancova). results: overall, clients receiving abbt compared to control group reported a significantly decrease in severity of gad symptoms, and improve in quality of life at post- treatment state. they reported decrease in severity of worry but it was not statistically significant compared to control group. conclusion: abbt was effective in alleviating symptoms of gad. declaration of interest: this study was funded by the mental health research center and tehran psychiatric institute. clinical trial registration number: irct201108057227n1 citation: zargar f, asgharnejad farid aa, atef-vahid mk, afshar h, maroofi m, omranifard v. effect of acceptance-based behavior therapy on severity of symptoms, worry and quality of life in women with generalized anxiety disorder. iran j psychiatry behav sci 2012 6 (2): 23-32.