Effects of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on Impulsive Decision-Making.
Eight ACT sessions improve flexibility and reduce problem behavior in impulsive adults, even when delay discounting does not budge.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers ran a small RCT with adults who make impulsive choices.
Half got eight ACT sessions. Half got nothing.
They tracked flexibility, distress tolerance, symptoms, and delay discounting.
What they found
ACT helped. People felt more flexible and less upset.
Problem behavior behavior dropped.
But delay discounting stayed the same.
How this fits with other research
Vos et al. (2013) got the same eight-session dose to slash compulsions from 25 to 5 a day.
Green et al. (2019) says steep discounting is not a fixed trait. That matches why ACT did not move the discount curve.
Casanova (2023) shows ACT plus HRT helps skin picking. Our study shows ACT alone still cuts problem behavior.
Why it matters
You can use ACT to boost flexibility and cut problem behavior even when delay discounting stays flat. Try eight brief sessions and watch valued actions rise.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study examined the transdiagnostic effect of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on impulsive decision-making in a community sample. A total of 40 adults were randomized to eight individual sessions of ACT or an inactive control. Participants completed pre-, mid-, and post-assessments for psychological symptoms; overall behavior change; valued living; delay discounting; psychological flexibility; and distress tolerance. Data were analyzed with multilevel modeling of growth curves. Significant interaction effects of time and condition were observed for psychological flexibility, distress tolerance, psychological symptoms, and the obstruction subscale of valued living. No significant interaction effect was found for two delay discounting tasks nor the progress subscale of valued living. The ACT condition had a significantly larger reduction of problem behavior at post-assessment. The results support use of ACT as a transdiagnostic treatment for impulsive behaviors. The lack of change in delay discounting contrasts previous research.
Behavior modification, 2020 · doi:10.1177/0145445519833041