Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) in Three Victims of the Armed Conflict in Colombia

The psychological damages caused by the more than sixty years-old sociopolitical conflict in Colombia justifies the evaluation of psychological interventions aimed to diminish those damages. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) on the problems identified in victims of the armed conflict in Colombia. An AB with follow-up design was used with two men and one woman, with ages between 37 y 52 years old. Functional analysis was used to adjust the intervention according to particular necessities. Measures included the Acceptance and Action Questionary-AAQ, Dupuy Psychological Well-being Index, checking lists and self-registers. Results showed experiential avoidance as a behavioral pattern in function of contextual conditions related to learning history and the conflict experience, and a favorable ACT effect in the three participants. Several victims' responses were indicators associated to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PSTD), and experiential avoidance was the psychological strategy to manage them. To evaluate ACT in children and adolescents populations affected by the armed conflict is recommended, and also to evaluate group formats.