Effect of acceptance and commitment therapy for depressive disorders: a meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE: To systematically evaluate the effect of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) on depressive disorders. METHODS: The electronic databases of Web of Science Core Collection, Pubmed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, PsycInfo, CNKI, Wanfang and Weipu were used to select relevant publications. Screening, data extraction, and quality assessment were undertaken following PRISMA guidelines for preferred reporting of systematic reviews and meta-analysis. RevMan5.4 was used for meta-analysis. RESULTS: 11 studies with a total of 962 patients were included. Random-effects model analysis showed that ACT could effectively reduce the level of depressive symptoms in patients with depressive disorders (SMD = − 1.05, 95% CI: − 1.43–− 0.66, P < 0.00001), improve psychological flexibility (MD = 4.84, 95% CI: 2.70–6.97, P < 0.00001), and have good maintenance effect (SMD = − 0.70, 95% CI: − 1.15–− 0.25, P = 0.002). All differences were statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: ACT not only improves depressive symptoms and psychological flexibility, but also has a good maintenance effect, and it is particularly effective in Chinese patients. Large randomized controlled trials are needed to validate the findings from this meta-analysis. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12991-023-00462-1.