The effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on cognitive flexibility, rumination, and distress tolerance in persons with Migraine headache

Introduction: Tolerating migraine pain has a variety of psychological consequences that should be considered in the context of psychotherapy applications. Aim: The purpose of the current study was to determine the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy based on cognitive flexibility, rumination and confusion tolerance in headache patients. Method: This research was a quasi-experimental with pre-test and post-test design with a control group. Among female students of Guilan University during the second semester of the 2018-2019 academic year, the numbers of 32 patients with migraine headache were selected by accessible sampling method and then assigned randomly into two groups included experimental (n=14) and control (n=18) groups. Eight sessions in 60 minutes per week were under-treatment based on acceptance and commitment in the group. Before and after the sessions, both groups answered voluntarily using Dennis & Wenderval's (2010) Cognitive Flexibility Inventory, Nolen-Hoeksema & Davis Ruminative Responses Scale (1999), and Simons & Gaher Distress Tolerance Scale (2005). Data were analyzed by the Mann-Whitney U test. Results: The results revealed that the experimental group had significantly lower scores in rumination (U= 62.00, P=0.005) and higher scores in distress tolerance (U=69.50, P<0.01) than the control group after the intervention. Intervention on cognitive flexibility in the headache group indicated no significant difference (U= 133.00, P<0.70). Conclusion: Achieved results from the current research revealed that the acceptance and commitment therapy could be an appropriate alternative to reduce the rumination in people having migraine headache and to increase the distress tolerance in people having chronic pains.