Comparison of the effectiveness of commitment and acceptance therapy and self-compassion therapy on distress tolerance and eating behavior in patients with type 2 diabetes

Introduction: Body mass index in patients with diabetes is influenced by health promoting behaviors, distress tolerance and eating behavior, and changes in them may cause changes in the condition of diabetic patients. Aim: The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of commitment and acceptance therapy and self-compassion therapy on distress tolerance and eating behavior in patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods: The research method was semi-experimental with a pre-test-post-test-follow-up design with the control group and the statistical population of this research including all overweight people with a body mass index of 25-35 referring to the research laboratory of Tehran in the fall and winter of 2021, among them, 45 people were selected using available sampling method. They were randomly divided into two experimental and control groups. The pre-test, post-test, and follow-up research tools were the Distress Tolerance Scale by Simons & Gaher and the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire by Cappelleri et al. (2009). After the 8 sessions of 90-minute acceptance and commitment-based therapy and the 8 sessions of 90-minute self-compassion therapy, research data were analyzed using variance analysis with repeated measurements. Results: The results showed no difference between the effectiveness of commitment and acceptance therapy and self-compassion therapy on distress tolerance and eating behavior in patients with type 2 diabetes (P<0.05). Conclusion: The results of the present study showed that acceptance and commitment therapy and self-compassion therapy are effective treatments in reducing the psychological problems of overweight people, including eating behavior and distress intolerance.