ACT for Depression in Childhood Diabetes

 

“Self-acceptance means you refuse to buy into your judgments your mind makes about you, whether they’re good judgments or bad ones. Instead of judging yourself, you recognize your strengths and your weaknesses, and you do what you can to be the person you want to be.” – Russ Harris

 

There is an image, a societal meme, of childhood being a time of great happiness, fancifulness, freedom, creativity, and play. But, the reality is frequently starkly different. It has been estimated that 2% to 4% of children are depressed. This is particularly true with children under intense stress from childhood illness, particularly chronic illness. Indeed, 2.4% of children suffer from childhood diabetes. The day to day struggle with diabetes and the feelings that they are burdens on the family frequently produces depression in these children.

 

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) has been shown to be effective for depression in adults (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/09/17/act-for-depression/). ACT employs mindfulness practices to increase awareness and develop an attitude of acceptance and compassion in the presence of painful thoughts and feelings. Additionally, ACT helps people strengthen aspects of cognition such as in committing to living according to their values. It is not known, however, if ACT is effective for depression in diabetic children

 

In today’s Research News article “Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Depression, Psychological Well-Being and Feeling of Guilt in 7 – 15 Years Old Diabetic Children”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1111453218878603/?type=3&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4575800/

Moghanloo and colleagues provided ACT modified for children and adolescents in ten weekly sessions to a randomly assigned group of 7-15 year old diabetic children. The change from before to after was compared to a no intervention control group of children. They found that the children treated with ACT reported lower depression and feelings of guilt and had improved psychological well-being. The effects sizes were large and clinically meaningful. Hence, ACT appeared to be effective in children as it’s been shown to be in adults.

 

It should be noted that there was no follow-up to determine if the effects persisted after the end of active therapy. Also, since the control group did not receive psychological treatment of any kind, it is impossible to determine if ACT is particularly effective or any form of therapy would have worked as well.

 

Like most mindfulness techniques ACT is targeted to improving awareness and acceptance of experiences in the present moment. These include emotions. This may be particularly important in children. By making the children more aware of how they’re feeling and why, they may become better able to deal with and accept these sometimes overpowering emotions. In addition, ACT supplies tools to look at their own thoughts about their disease and psychological state and recognize, accept, and form a different relationship with them. This allows the individual to be more psychologically flexible and mindful. In this way ACT can assist the children in coping with not only their emotions but also their disease and thoughts about it in a more accepting and productive fashion.

 

So, ACT for depression in childhood diabetes.

 

“We have not passed that subtle line between childhood and adulthood until… we have stopped saying “It got lost,” and say “I lost it.” – Sydney J Harris

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

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