Comparing the Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Group Therapy with Cognitive Behavioral Group Therapy on reduction of Experiential Avoidance and Fear of Negative Evaluation in University Students with Social Anxiety

Introduction: The purpose of the current study was to compare the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment group therapy with cognitive behavior group therapy on reduction of experiential avoidance and fear of negative evaluation in university students with social anxiety. Methods: In this research, using two groups of experimental and one control group, an experimental interventional method was used. A sample of 45students with social anxiety was selected by purposive sampling method and then randomly assigned to two experimental and one control groups. The experimental groups received 12 sessions of acceptance and commitment therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy, while no therapy administered on the control group. The experiential avoidance and fear of negative evaluation of the subjects were assessed using the AAQ-II and BFNE-II tests in two stages of the research. Final data were analyzed by Covariance analysis and Bonferronis post hoc test. Results: Comparison of the groups did not show any significant difference in the experimental avoidance component between the three groups. In the fear of the negative component, the evaluation showed while both treatments reduced fear of the negative evaluation, acceptance and commitment therapy outperformed cognitive behavioral therapy. Conclusion: Treatment based on acceptance and commitment therapy is effective in reducing the fear of negative evaluation of students, and it is recommended to be used in working with students with social anxiety.