Comparison between an acceptance-based and a cognitive-control-based protocol for coping with pain

An Experimental Test of a Cognitive Defusion Exercise: Coping With Negative and Positive Self-Statements

“…These findings are consistent with the clinical assumptions of ACT (Hayes, Strosahl, et al, 1999), and they provide indirect evidence that the positive outcomes reported for ACT result from its strong emphasis on defusion (e.g., Gifford et al, 2004;Gutierrez, Luciano, & Fink, 2004;Twohig, Hayes, & Masuda, 2006). At the very least, the evidence here supports the view that defusion functions by changing an individual's levels of discomfort, believability, and willingness associated with painful content, rather than by altering the content directly.…”

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Model, processes and outcomes

“…Another pain tolerance study (Gutierrez, Luciano, & Fink, 2004) examined the impact of a 20-minute long ACT acceptance, defusion and values intervention using the Card Exercise (Hayes et al, 1999, p. 162) and Swamp Metaphor (Hayes et al, 1999, p. 247-248) as compared to a cognitive and emotional change intervention. Pain levels were systematically raised throughout the study, and the randomly assigned participants (N=40) were paid to persist as long as they could in each condition.…”

Targeting Fear of Spiders with Control-, Acceptance-, and Information-Based Approaches

“…The overall findings are consistent with what was generally expected and add further support to the differentiation between control-and acceptance-based approaches in coping with psychological challenges. Based on previous research (gutiérrez et al, 2004;Hayes, Bissett, et al, 1999), it was expected that ABA participants would display the highest levels of approach behavior by progressing the farthest through the PT-BAT. By contrast, those in IBA were anticipated to show the highest levels of avoidance.…”

“…As one of the more common forms of anxiety disorders, specific phobia has a lifetime prevalence rate of 10-12% (Kessler et al, 2005), accounts for about 40% of all phobias (Chapman, 1997), and includes fear and related avoidance of small animals such as snakes and insects. One of the more prevalent types of small-animal phobia in Western societies involves fear of spiders, with as many as 55% of females and 18% of males estimated to experience arachnophobia (Davey, 1992).Much of the previous research comparing the impact of control-versus acceptance-based approaches in how participants respond to challenges that may parallel clinical disorders have focused on experimentally induced pain (e.g., gutiérrez, Luciano, Rodríguez, & Fink, 2004;Hayes, Bissett, et al, 1999;Keogh, Bond, Hanmer, & Tilston, 2005;Masedo & Esteve, 2007;Paez-Blarrina et al, 2008;Roche, Forsyth, & Maher, 2007). We were able to locate only two previous reports with nonclinical samples (Eifert & Heffner, 2003;Feldner, Zvolensky, Eifert, & Spira, 2003) that have compared control-versus acceptance-based approaches for coping with challenges that would be analogous to those faced by clients who struggle with anxiety.…”

“…Much of the previous research comparing the impact of control-versus acceptance-based approaches in how participants respond to challenges that may parallel clinical disorders have focused on experimentally induced pain (e.g., gutiérrez, Luciano, Rodríguez, & Fink, 2004;Hayes, Bissett, et al, 1999;Keogh, Bond, Hanmer, & Tilston, 2005;Masedo & Esteve, 2007;Paez-Blarrina et al, 2008;Roche, Forsyth, & Maher, 2007). We were able to locate only two previous reports with nonclinical samples (Eifert & Heffner, 2003;Feldner, Zvolensky, Eifert, & Spira, 2003) that have compared control-versus acceptance-based approaches for coping with challenges that would be analogous to those faced by clients who struggle with anxiety.…”