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Research has suggested that mindfulness and acceptance may be important factors in the development, maintenance and treatment of both obesity and eating disorders. However, very few scales exist that apply constructs of acceptance and mindfulness to eating behavior. A measure of acceptance about food related thoughts would be especially beneficial in investigating links between acceptance and problematic eating, and in better understanding mechanisms of action of effective treatments for obesity and eating disorders. The Food Acceptance and Awareness Questionnaire (FAAQ) was developed to measure acceptance of urges and cravings to eat or the extent to which individuals might try to control or change these thoughts. The FAAQ is a self-report questionnaire made up of ten items each rated on a seven-point Likert scale (1=very seldom true to 6=always true). Higher scores indicate greater acceptance of motivations to eat. The FAAQ was given to a sample of 463 undergraduate students along with several other measures of eating behavior and other psychological variables. Concurrent associations with variables theorized to be closely linked (Eating Attitudes Test, EAT; the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire, DEBQ; body mass index, BMI) and not very closely linked (the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, DASS) were evaluated in order to indicate the new scale's convergent and divergent validity. These results demonstrated highly significant correlations with these measures in the expected direction, with stronger correlations for the theoretically-consistent variables than the theoretically-inconsistent variables. Exploratory factor analyses confirmed a structural two-factor model. Factor 1 seems to measure one's ability to regulate eating despite urges and cravings, and Factor 2 seems to measure desire to maintain internal control over eating thoughts. The FAAQ was also administered to a separate sample of 29 overweight or obese women enrolled in a weight loss program, and found to be predictive of weight loss. Taken together, results suggest that the FAAQ is a psychometrically sound instrument which might be a valuable tool for assessing acceptance of food related thoughts and urges.
Acceptance and Mindfulness in Cognitive Behavior Therapy: Understanding and Applying the New Therapies brings together a renowned group of leading figures in CBT who address key issues and topics, including:Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy
Metacognitive therapy
Mindfulness-based stress reduction
Dialectical behavior therapy
Understanding acceptance and commitment therapy in context
Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) has a small but growing database of support. One hundred and one heterogeneous outpatients reporting moderate to severe levels of anxiety or depression were randomly assigned to traditional cognitive therapy (CT) or to ACT. To maximize external validity, the authors utilized very minimal exclusion criteria. Participants receiving CT and ACT evidenced large, equivalent improvements in depression, anxiety, functioning difficulties, quality of life, life satisfaction, and clinician-rated functioning. Whereas improvements were equivalent across the two groups, the mechanisms of action appeared to differ. Changes in “observing” and “describing” one's experiences appeared to mediate outcomes for the CT group relative to the ACT group, whereas “experiential avoidance,” “acting with awareness,” and “acceptance” mediated outcomes for the ACT group. Overall, the results suggest that ACT is a viable and disseminable treatment, the effectiveness of which appears equivalent to that of CT, even as its mechanisms appear to be distinct.
Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) has a small but growing database of support. One hundred and one heterogeneous outpatients reporting moderate to severe levels of anxiety or depression were randomly assigned to traditional cognitive therapy (CT) or to ACT. To maximize external validity, the authors utilized very minimal exclusion criteria. Participants receiving CT and ACT evidenced large, equivalent improvements in depression, anxiety, functioning difficulties, quality of life, life satisfaction, and clinician-rated functioning. Whereas improvements were equivalent across the two groups, the mechanisms of action appeared to differ. Changes in “observing” and “describing” one's experiences appeared to mediate outcomes for the CT group relative to the ACT group, whereas “experiential avoidance,” “acting with awareness,” and “acceptance” mediated outcomes for the ACT group. Overall, the results suggest that ACT is a viable and disseminable treatment, the effectiveness of which appears equivalent to that of CT, even as its mechanisms appear to be distinct.
Many university students suffer from test anxiety that is severe enough to impair performance. Given mixed efficacy results of previous cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) trials and a theoretically driven rationale, an acceptance-based behavior therapy (ABBT) approach was compared to traditional CBT (i.e., Beckian cognitive therapy; CT) for the treatment of test anxiety. In this pilot study, 16 university students with test anxiety were randomly assigned to receive either a CT or ABBT 2-hr group workshop. The two treatments produced markedly different effects on test performance (measured by exam scores), with those receiving ABBT experiencing improvements in performance, whereas those receiving CT exhibited reduced performance. In addition, there was a suggestion that ABBT might have been more effective at reducing subjectively experienced test anxiety (i.e., a nonsignificant but medium-sized group by time interaction effect). Implications of these results for the treatment of test anxiety and for theoretical notions related to cognitive change strategies are discussed.
Many university students suffer from test anxiety that is severe enough to impair performance. Given mixed efficacy results of previous cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) trials and a theoretically driven rationale, an acceptance-based behavior therapy (ABBT) approach was compared to traditional CBT (i.e., Beckian cognitive therapy; CT) for the treatment of test anxiety. In this pilot study, 16 university students with test anxiety were randomly assigned to receive either a CT or ABBT 2-hr group workshop. The two treatments produced markedly different effects on test performance (measured by exam scores), with those receiving ABBT experiencing improvements in performance, whereas those receiving CT exhibited reduced performance. In addition, there was a suggestion that ABBT might have been more effective at reducing subjectively experienced test anxiety (i.e., a nonsignificant but medium-sized group by time interaction effect). Implications of these results for the treatment of test anxiety and for theoretical notions related to cognitive change strategies are discussed.