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Objective: Cancer is associated with some psychological problems that play an important role in the severity and continuity of cancer. Cancer may lead to maladaptive psychological reactions such as anxiety, depression, and fatigue. Depression and anxiety are highly prevalent in cancer patients. This study aimed to compare the efficacy of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for anxiety, depression, and fatigue in cancer patients. Method: The present study was a randomized clinical trial (RCT). Of the 100 patients diagnosed with cancer, 60 patients were eligible to participate in this study according to the inclusion / exclusion criteria. They were randomly assigned into 3 groups: MBCT, CBT, and wait-list group (WLG). Afterward, the experimental groups received 8 weekly treatment sessions. All the participants fulfilled the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and Cancer-Related Fatigue Scale (CFS) before and after the intervention. Data were analyzed using SPSS-16 software by Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). Results: The results indicated a significant reduction in depression, anxiety, and fatigue scores in CBT and MBCT groups. There was a significant difference between both treatment groups with WLG in the anxiety and depression, but no significant difference was found between MBCT and CBT groups. Additionally, there was only a significant difference between the CBT group and WLG in terms of fatigue (P = 0.01). Conclusion: CBT and MBCT performed equally well in decreasing anxiety and depression in cancer patients, and they were significantly better than WLG. It seems that MBCT is a good alternative to CBT for decreasing emotional symptoms in cancer patients. As a result, CBT and MBCT could be considered a good addition to pharmacological treatment of cancer patients with comorbid psychological symptoms. However, CBT was preferable to MBCT in decreasing fatigue. The study was registered at the irct.ir database under registration number IRCT20180503039509N1.

Background: In recent years, application and practice of mindfulness-based interventions to reduce adolescent psychological problems are increasing. Therefore, it is necessary to design and study tools that measure mindfulness and its effects. Objectives: One of the available tools to measure mindfulness in adolescents is the mindfulness attention awareness scale for adolescents (MAAS-A). The current study aimed at examining the factor structure and reliability of a Persian version of this scale and investigating the relationship between mindfulness and anxiety. Methods: The current descriptive, cross sectional and psychometric study was conducted on 354 students from Kashan city, Iran, selected via the cluster sampling method in 2017. The exploratory factor analysis (EFA) by the principle component analysis method, the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and the relationship between mindfulness and anxiety were conducted to examine the validity of the MAAS-A. To calculate the reliability of the MAAS-A, Cronbach's alpha and test-retest reliability (four-week interval) were employed. The statistical analysis was performed with SPSS version 19.0 and AMOS-22. Results: The results of the EFA suggested two factors for this scale labeled as "acting with attention and awareness" and "attention to the present moment". The CFA confirmed the two-factor model of the 14-item scale (the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) 90% confidence interval (CI) = 0.001-0.06). The reliability of this scale was good (α = 0.81, retest reliability = 0.86) and the correlation between mindfulness and anxiety was negative and significant (r =-0.43, P < 0.01). Also, this relationship was significant in females (r =-0.44, P < 0.01) and males (r =-0.46, P < 0.01). Conclusions: According to the results of the current study, the MAAS-A was a reliable and valuable scale to measure the mindfulness of adolescents. The results of correlation between mindfulness and anxiety meant that by increasing mindfulness, the anxiety reduced in adolescents.

Objective: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide. Many of these patients suffer from multiple psychological symptoms. The present study aimed to investigate the impact of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on depression, pain acceptance, and psychological flexibility in married women with breast cancer. Methods: The present study was a pre-and post-test clinical trial with intervention and control groups. The research population consisted of women with breast cancer referred to the Ayatollah Yasrebi and Shahid Beheshti Hospitals in Kashan in 2018. Through a purposive sampling method, 40 women were selected and randomly divided into two groups, namely, intervention (n = 20) and control (n = 20). The applied tools included the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21), Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire 8 (CPAQ-8), and Acceptance and Action Questionnaire -II (AAQ-II). Data were analyzed by SPSS 16 using descriptive statistics and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results: The results showed that ACT treatment significantly reduced the mean scores of depression compared to the control group (F = 107.72, p < 0.001). The mean scores of pain acceptance (F = 9.58, p < 0.05) and psychological flexibility (F = 10.61, p < 0 .05) significantly increased in comparison with the control group. Conclusion: ACT can be considered as an effective therapeutic approach to reduce depression and increase pain acceptance and psychological flexibility in women with breast cancer. These changes appear to be due to improved acceptance of thoughts and feelings associated with cancer and increased psychological flexibility, which is the primary goal of ACT treatment. Clinical trial registration: Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT), IRCT20190518043620N1.

Background: Disgust is a strong and persistent emotion that frequently occurs during exposure-based treatments for contamination-based obsessive compulsive disorder (C-OCD). This study aimed to examine the efficacy of augmenting cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) with a novel type of anti-disgust cognitive intervention in reducing the severity of OCD, disgust propensity/sensitivity, and refusal rate of exposure and response prevention, while simultaneously increasing acceptance of disgust. Materials and Methods: Fifty-five individuals with C-OCD (mean age 28.1 years, SD = 3.52; 77% female) were randomly assigned to 15 weekly sessions of anti-disgust plus CBT (AD-CBT) or CBT alone. They were evaluated for outcomes four times (pretreatment, prior to exposure and response prevention (ERP) sessions, posttreatment, and three-month follow-up), and mixed-design ANOVAs were used to analyze the data. Results: The findings indicated that when compared to CBT alone, AD-CBT significantly reduced OCD severity, disgust propensity/sensitivity, and concurrently increased disgust acceptance (p < 0.001). Additionally, engaging in an anti-disgust cognitive intervention was associated with lower ERP refusal rate (4% vs. 16%). The superiority of AD-CBT over CBT persisted through the three-month follow-up period. Conclusions: The current study suggests that supplementing CBT for C-OCD with an anti-disgust cognitive intervention significantly increased acceptance of disgust and decreased the refusal rate of ERP, OCD severity, and disgust-related factors.

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