The efficacy of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) in mitigating the effects of emotional abuse among Turkish women: An experimental design study

This study developed and implemented a Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)-based intervention program to enhance the well-being of Turkish women exposed to emotional abuse.The intervention was designed to reduce emotional abuse (perpetration and victimization) and perceived stress while improving emotion regulation and psychological well-being. A pilot study (N = 24) was conducted to refine the program content, structure, and assessment procedures. The main randomized controlled trial (N = 60) assigned participants to either an intervention or waitlist control group. The nine-week program combined CBT strategies with ACT methods. Standardized measures—the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ), Multidimensional Measure of Emotional Abuse (MMEA), PERMA Well-Being Scale, and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)—were administered at baseline, post-test, and two-month follow-up. The intervention group demonstrated statistically significant improvements in adaptive emotion regulation and psychological well-being, alongside reductions in perceived stress and both emotional abuse perpetration and victimization compared with the control group. Most effects were maintained at follow-up. Limitations include the use of a small, homogeneous sample of married Turkish women, reliance on self-report data, a short follow-up period, and the absence of partner or clinician-reported assessments. Clinically, the findings highlight the potential of a structured, low-cost, and trauma-informed CBT–ACT program to enhance emotional recovery, resilience, and relational health in women affected by emotional abuse. The approach is applicable in both clinical and community settings and holds promise for integration into prevention as well as treatment frameworks.