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The Effect of Mindfulness Therapy on Tolerance of Uncertainty and Thought-Action Fusion in Patients with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

M. A. Azad, G. Manshaei, A. Ghamarani

Quarterly Journal of Child Mental Health April 10, 2019 DOI: 10.29252/jcmh.6.1.8 (opens in new tab)

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Semi-experimental study with pre-test-post-test control group design with follow-up Peer reviewed
Sample size 30
Population Patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder in Isfahan
Intervention Mindfulness therapy
Duration 10 sessions of 75 minutes over three months, with two-month follow-up
Topics Meditation
Key findings Mindfulness therapy significantly increased tolerance of uncertainty and reduced thought-action fusion in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder, with effects maintained at two-month follow-up.

Abstract

Background and

Purpose: Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a serious disorder that affects psychological, communicative, social, and emotional processes. Accordingly, the present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the effect of mindfulness therapy on tolerance of uncertainty, and thought-action fusion in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Method: this was a semi-experimental study with pre-test-post-test control group design with a follow-up of two months. The sample consisted of 30 patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder in Isfahan during the academic year of 2017-18.They were selected by purposeful sampling this was a semi-experimental study with pre-test-post-test control group design with a follow-up of two months randomly this was a semi-experimental study with pre-test-post-test control group design with a follow-up of two months The experimental group received mindfulness intervention in 10 sessions of 75 minutesduring three months. Maudsley obsession questionnaire (Hajson and Rachman, 1980), tolerance of uncertainty (Mcleen, 1993), and thought-action fusion questionnaire (Shefran et.al, 1996) were used to collect data.Data were analyzed by repeated measure ANOVA.

Findings: The results showed that mindfulness therapy had a significant effect on the tolerance of uncertainty and thought-action fusion in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (F = 11.13, F = 79.98, P <0.001).Also, the effect of this treatment is maintained during the follow-up phase (P <0/001). The degree of statistical effect of mindfulness therapy on tolerance of uncertainty and thought-action fusion were 40% and 73% respectively.

Conclusion: Based on the findings of the present study, it can be concluded that by creating knowledge of thoughts and feelings, the mindfulness therapy can increase tolerance of uncertainty and reduce the thought-action fusion in patients with obsessive compulsive disorder.