The effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in people with chronic depressive disorder

Seminar paper from the year 2025 in the subject Psychology - Clinical Psychology, Psychopathology, Prevention, grade: 1,3, University of Frankfurt (Main) (Institut für Psychologie), language: English, abstract: In the following assignment I will take a closer look at the usage of the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) as a possible treatment for chronically depressed patients. Affected people showed to be often treatment-resistant to established psychotherapeutic approaches for depression like Cognitive Therapy or Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. The same is equally observable for antidepressant medication, resulting in long and painful ordeals, often accompanying the patients their entire life. That is why a new approach is urgently needed. As ACT is a relatively recent therapeutic approach with some gaps in empirical data, I will also highlight possible treatment alternatives in psychotherapy and medicine.