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Background and Objective: Irrational beliefs underlie a wide range of cognitive impairments. This study was performed to compare the effect of cognitive-behavioral therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy on irrational beliefs of medical students.
Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, 45 medical students of Golestan University of Medical Sciences in north of Iran were non-randomly divided into control, cognitive-behavioral therapy (first intervention) and acceptance, commitment therapy (second intervention) groups. All three groups completed the pre-test, but the control group did not receive any therapy. The intervention groups were received 8 sessions of therapy. The data were collected through Jones's 1969 (IBQ-40) irrational beliefs questionnaire.
Results: The total score of irrational beliefs in the both intervention groups were reduced in comparison with control group (P<0.05). The mean score of the problem-based avoidance subscale (35.26±6.32) was significantly reduced in the second intervention group compared to the first intervention group (30.53±9.47) (P<0.05). Also, the mean scores of emotional impulsivity in the first intervention group (22.73±9.49) were significantly increased compared to the second intervention group (29.93±1.75) (P<0.05).
Conclusion: Two methods of cognitive-behavioral therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy reduce the irrational beliefs of medical students.

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Background and Objective: Parents of children with cancer are more susceptible to psychological problems such as anxiety, depression, stress, and generally, mental health risks. This study was done to determine the effectiveness of group acceptance and commitment therapy on self-efficacy among mothers of children with cancer.
Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted on 30 mothers of children with cancer referring to Children’s Medical Center in Tehran, Iran during 2017. Mothers were non-randomly assigned into intervention and control groups. For gathering the data, the parental self agency measure of Dumka and colleagues (PSAM; 1996) was used. The group acceptance and commitment therapy was offered to subjects in the interventional group for 2-hour in 10 sessions, but the control group's mothers did not receive any intervention.
Results: Mean scores of self-efficacy among mothers of children with cancer were 31.40±6.40 and 53.87±13.35 in pre-test and post-test, respectively (P<0.05). Mean scores of self-efficacies among mothers in the control group were 30.07±5.73 and 29±7.58 in pre-test and post-test, respectively. This difference was not significant.
Conclusion: Acceptance and commitment therapy significantly improves parental self-efficacy among mothers of children with cancer.

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Background and Objective: The mental health of cancer patients impaired by suffering, future worriness, and fear of death. This study was conducted to determine the effect of acceptance and commitment based training on the difficulty of emotion regulation and mental health in women with breast cancer.
Methods: In this clinical trial study, 30 female patients with breast cancer were randomly divided into control and intervention groups (n=15). The intervention group received 8 sessions of 90 minutes of acceptance and commitment procedures. Before and after the treatment and two months there after, all participants were evaluated and compared with the Gratz-Romer 2004 and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28).
Results: Emotion regulation score in the intervention group was singnificantly reduced from 113.52±4.16 to 104.67±3.96 (P<0.05). Emotion regulation score remained low in the intervention group in the follow up period (104.17±3.58); but the mean in the control group did not show any significant reduction. In the intervention group after the treatment, the total score of mental health reduced from (46.81±4.21) to (33.18±3.39) (P<0.05). This score was 33.12±3.33 in the follow-up period in the intervention group; but no significant reduction was observed in the control group.
Conclusion: Acceptance and commitment technique training can improves mental health and emotion regulation in women with breast cancer.

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Background and Objective: Neuropathic pain is a large and difficult group of peripheral nerve diseases, which are complicated to treat. This study was designed to determine the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on psychological well-being and pain perception among patients with chronic neuropathic pain.
Methods: This clinical trial was performed on 30 patients with chronic neuropathic pain who were referred to the Rohani Hospital and private clinic of a neurologist in Babol (Iran) in 2022. The patients were randomly divided into an interventional and a control group. The patients completed the psychological well-being scale (Ryff) and pain belief and perception inventory (Williams and Thorn) in the pretest. Then, ACT (120 minutes) was performed for the interventional group, 8 sessions a week. The patients completed the scales after the treatment course and 2 months after the posttest.
Results: In the first follow-up, there were significant differences between the two groups in terms of total score of psychological well-being (P<0.05), the subscales of self-acceptance (P<0.05), positive relationships with others (P<0.05), autonomy (P<0.05), environmental mastery (P<0.05), purpose in life (P<0.05), personal growth (P<0.05), the total score of pain perception (P<0.05), the subscales of belief in the stability of pain in the present (P<0.05) and belief in the mysteriousness of pain (P<0.05). The treatment results were maintained in the second follow-up phase. In the first follow-up, the subscales of belief in the continuation of pain in the future and belief in self-blame did not differ significantly between the two groups, but in the second follow-up, the subscales of belief in the continuation of pain in the future (P<0.05) and belief in self–blame (P<0.05) differed significantly between the two groups. In addition, the average psychological well-being in the intervention group was higher than that in the control group, and the average pain perception in the intervention group was lower than that in the control group.
Conclusion: This study shows the ACT could be an effective intervention for improving psychological well-being and pain perception among patients with chronic neuropathic pain.