One-day acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) workshop improves anxiety but not vascular function or inflammation in adults with moderate to high anxiety levels in a randomized controlled trial

By: Jess G. Fiedorowicz, Lilian Dindo, Tiwaloluwa Ajibewa, Jane Persons, James Marchman, Seth W. Holwerd, Oluchi J. Abosi, Lyndsey E. DuBose, Nealy Wooldridge, Janie Myers, Amy K. Stroud, Kaitlyn Dubishar, Zhuangzhuang Liu, and Gary L. Pierce

Anxiety has been found to be related to cardiovascular disease. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an evidence-based therapy shown to reduce anxiety in people experiencing chronic anxiety and psychological distress. In this paper, we explored whether a one-day ACT could help adults with moderate to high anxiety levels. We were interested in whether this workshop could not only reduce anxiety but also improve cardiac health.

To explore this, we measured anxiety levels, the flexibility of the blood vessel of the heart, blood flow, the ability of blood vessels to expand, the flexibility of major blood vessels in the neck, and inflammation in people with moderate to high anxiety who completed the ACT workshop compared to those who were on a waitlist for services.

We found that while the one-day ACT workshop reduced anxiety, it didn’t seem to have an effect on the health of the participants' blood vessels or inflammation levels. This means that while the workshop helped people feel less anxious, it didn't show the same positive effects on heart health.

In conclusion, the study suggests that a one-day Acceptance and Commitment Therapy workshop can be beneficial for reducing anxiety in adults with moderate to high anxiety levels. However, it didn't show evidence of improving the health of blood vessels or reducing inflammation in this group of participants.