--- title: Does acceptance and commitment therapy help women with PMS manage emotions and unhelpful thoughts? description: Yes. Eight weeks of acceptance and commitment therapy improved emotional regulation and reduced unhelpful thought patterns in women with PMS, with benefits la url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/the-effectiveness-of-acceptance-and-commitment-therapy-on-emotion-regulation-and-2026/ --- - [Niyora](https://niyora.com/) - [Research](https://niyora.com/research/) - [Library](https://niyora.com/research/library/) - Does acceptance and commitment therapy help women with PMS manage emotions and unhelpful thoughts? Randomised trial, 2026 # Does acceptance and commitment therapy help women with PMS manage emotions and unhelpful thoughts? Yes. Eight weeks of acceptance and commitment therapy improved emotional regulation and reduced unhelpful thought patterns in women with PMS, with benefits lasting at least 2 months after treatment. Moderate study design 30 female university students in Iran with PMS ## What they did Quasi-experimental study with 30 female university students with PMS, randomly assigned to treatment or control. The treatment group received one 2-hour group session of acceptance and commitment therapy per week for 8 weeks. Measurements were taken before, after 8 weeks, and at 2-month follow-up. ## What they found The therapy group increased their ability to reappraise emotions and use emotion suppression, while decreasing dysfunctional attitudes. These improvements were maintained at the 2-month follow-up. ## What it means for you Acceptance and commitment therapy is an effective psychological treatment for PMS symptoms involving emotions and thinking patterns. This is a small study in one university in Iran and didn't compare to other psychological therapies. 30 students studied 8 weeks treatment duration 2 months follow-up period ## About the study Original title The Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on Emotion Regulation and Dysfunctional Attitudes of Female Students with Premenstrual Syndrome Authors Azadeh Niroomand, کورش گودرزی, Mehdi Roozbahani et al. Journal Journal of Community Health Research Year 2026 Study design Randomised trial Participants 30 What was tested Acceptance and commitment therapy, 2-hour group sessions weekly for 8 weeks Open access Yes Read the paper [doi.org/10.18502/jchr.v15i2.21385](https://doi.org/10.18502/jchr.v15i2.21385) Original abstract Background: The current study aimed to determine the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on emotion regulation in two subscales of emotion suppression and cognitive reappraisal and dysfunctional attitudes of female students with PMS. Methods: The statistical population of this quasi-experimental research with nonequivalent control group and pretest-posttest design with a 2-month follow-up included female students with PMS at the Islamic Azad University, Doroud branch in the academic year 2022-2023. The sample size included 30 PMS students who met the inclusion criteria for the study and were selected through an available sampling method and randomly assigned in two experimental and control groups. The experimental group received acceptance and commitment therapy during eight weeks and a two-hour group session every week. The obtained data were analyzed using the statistical test of mixed ANCOVA, SPSS version 22 statistical software. Results: The mean scores of ACT group in the variable of emotion suppression and cognitive reappraisal have been increased and in the variable of dysfunctional attitude has been decreased after the therapy in the post-test and follow-up. It shows that the therapy has been significantly effective on the women with PMS in the two variables of emotion regulation and dysfunctional attitudes. Conclusion: The acceptance and commitment therapy has caused the emotional suppression and reappraisal variables which are two subscales of emotion regulation to be increased and dysfunctional attitudes to be decreased in the post-test and follow-up stages. It means that ACT has been effective for women with PMS to reduce some of their symptoms, and it can be used in the clinics to help them. Reproduced under CC-BY. ## Topics [Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Mood swings and emotion regulation](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-emotional-regulation/)[Cognition, concentration and memory](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-cognition/)[Mindfulness and meditation](https://niyora.com/research/topics/treatment-mindfulness/)[Students and academic performance](https://niyora.com/research/topics/life-area-education/)[Stigma, attitudes and culture](https://niyora.com/research/topics/life-area-stigma-culture/) Research tells you what helps on average. Niyora helps on the day it hits. Calm down, see it another way, and decide what to say, with a PMS and PMDD app built by a doctor. ## Related studies Systematic review, 2025 Does teaching adolescent girls about their menstrual cycle and health help reduce period pain and PMS? Cohort study, 2017 Is acceptance therapy (ACT) more effective than other treatments for PMS? Study, 2026 What coping strategies help women manage PMS symptoms? Survey study, 2026 Do how you think about your period and how you manage emotions affect PMS and PMDD? Cohort study, 2026 How do beliefs about control and ways of handling emotions affect distress before your period? Study, 2025 Do women with PMDD who experienced childhood trauma have more trouble recognizing emotions? Ask AI about this page Copy prompt ChatGPT ↗ Claude ↗ Perplexity ↗ Google AI Mode ↗ Grok ↗