The Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) in Improving Mental Health of Adolescents

This essay investigated the effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) in improving the general mental health of adolescents. Regarding the serious situation of Asian adolescents' mental health condition, two experiments conducted in East Asian countries were analyzed to determine the efficiency and feasibility of a school-based ACT intervention to prevent mental health illness and promote psychological flexibility of the students. The results of both studies indicated a significant improvement in the psychological flexibility of the participants in the ACT group, while the experiment conducted in China also illustrated the improvement of student's psychological capital and school engagement. Both studies had a crucial contribution to the application of ACT intervention to adolescents in East Asian culture and encouraged future studies regarding the same topic. The procedure and limitations in both studies have shown the potential of school-based ACT intervention, and also given profound guidance to the future implication of ACT intervention in adolescents.