DClinPsy Portfolio Volume 1 of 3 - University of Hertfordshire ...

Co-morbidity with other psychopathology has been found to be as high as 89.5%.
Depression in particular has been found to be very high in Full Syndrome (FS) and
Partial Syndrome (PS) ED groups, with more than 70% of the adolescent FS and PS ED
cases meeting criteria for an Axis I disorder in young adulthood, (Lewisohn, Striegel-
Moore and Seeley, 2000).
A marked similarity in cognitive and behavioural processes (i.e. the progress or course of
a disorder) has been identified as important across the different psychological disorders.
Therefore, it has been suggested that assessment and treatment could be targeted at the
processes in common across the disorders (Harvey, Watkins, Mansell and Shafran, 2004).
Experiential avoidance and cognitive fusion have been identified as part of the
transdiagnostic process of inflexibility in ACT, which although under the umbrella of 3 rd
wave CBT is distinct from other CBT approaches. CBT approaches involve teaching
clients to purposively regulate or change emotions, physical sensations and cognitions;
instead ACT promotes the acceptance of these. ACT assists clients to notice and abandon
attempts to avoid or suppress and to move in a direction of chosen values despite pain or
suffering. Further elaboration of how ACT has been used successfully in practice will
now be presented below.
ACT treatment of adolescents with mental health problems including eating
disorders
Evidence for ACT with adolescents with mental health problems has accumulated.
Greco, Blomquist, Acra, and Moulton (2006) examined the utility of ACT in promoting
life quality and decreasing school absence and functional disability among adolescents
with functional abdominal pain. They found that adolescents demonstrated significant
increases in life quality and significant decreases in functional disability and school
absences from baseline to post-treatment and follow up. In addition, adolescents reported
lower levels of somatic complaints and anxiety from baseline to post-treatment.
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