Comparison of the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy and emotion-focused therapy on anxiety sensitivity in cardiac patients

Introduction: The role of anxiety sensitivity in the clinical course of many chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, has been confirmed, which can cause and develop a variety of cardiovascular diseases. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Emotion-Focused Therapy on Anxiety Sensitivity in cardiac patients . Method: This was a quasi-experimental study with pretest-posttest design with control group. The statistical population was all patients referred to Dr. Heshmat Rasht hospital during February to March 2019. Sampling method was used to select the samples and then the samples were randomly divided into two experimental and one control group. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and analysis of covariance by SPSS software, version 25.Results: outcomes showed that acceptance and commitment therapy and emotion focused therapy were effective on Anxiety sensitivity(P = 0.000). also the results of the covariance showed that, there was a significant difference between the groups' adjusted averages for Anxiety sensitivity (ETA=0.910, P = 0.000, F(2,41)= 208.387). In other words, there is a significant difference between the two experimental methods on Anxiety sensitivity in cardiac patients (acceptance and commitment therapy and emotion-focused therapy) with the control group. Conclusions: Anxiety sensitivity plays a predisposing, accelerating, and sustaining role in cardiovascular disease, and training in the above treatments can play an important role as adjunctive and rehabilitation therapy alongside medical treatments.