An Intervention Based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Childhood Separation Anxiety: A Case Study
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This study illustrates the application of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for a 12-year-old boy with separation anxiety and his mother. Over 23 sessions, ACT strategies promoted psychological flexibility, values-based parenting, and adaptive behaviors. The intervention reduced the child’s experiential avoidance, anxiety, and depressive symptoms, while increasing value-oriented actions, while the mother showed improved psychological flexibility and life satisfaction. The results were sustained at a three-month follow-up. This case study highlights the potential of ACT in treating childhood separation anxiety by simultaneously involving parents, demonstrating its feasibility and efficacy. The findings provide guidance for adapting ACT for families and child populations.
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ACT and other treatments that integrate mindfulness and acceptance practices can generate more flexible and adaptive behavioral repertoires in parents of children with a variety of presenting challenges, including children with autism, oppositional behavior, chronic health conditions, and separation anxiety.
“There is growing evidence that ACT and other treatments that integrate mindfulness and acceptance practices [29] can generate more flexible and adaptive behavioral repertoires in parents of children with a variety of presenting challenges [30], including children with autism [31,32], oppositional behavior [33], chronic health conditions [34,35,36], and separation anxiety [37].”
From A Qualitative Study of Participant Feedback on an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Group-Based Intervention for Parents of Youth with Anxiety Disorders. (2026) · cites this paper as [37]
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Sorted by citations
Raftery-Helmer, J., Hart, A. S., Faro, A. L., Baez, D., & Moore, P. (2026) · Children · doi:10.3390/children13060837
“…and acceptance practices [29] can generate more flexible and adaptive behavioral repertoires in parents of children with a variety of presenting challenges [30], including children with autism [31,32], oppositional behavior [33], chronic health conditions [34–36], and separation anxiety [37].”
- Authors
- Lobato, D., Flujas-Contreras, J. M., Montesinos, F., & Montoya-Rodríguez, M. M.
- Affiliations
- Universidad Europea de Madrid (ES)
- University of Almería (ES)
- Universidad Católica del Uruguay (UY)
- Corresponding author
- Lobato, David
- Venue
- Behavioral Sciences
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2026-01-07
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 82
- ISSN
- 2076-328X (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC12838279
- OpenAlex
- W7118657165
- Cited by
- 1
- References
- 52
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1
- FWCI
- 8.06
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Behavioral Sciences (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Keywords
- acceptance and commitment therapy, separation anxiety, childhood anxiety, parental involvement, psychological flexibility, experiential avoidance, depressive symptoms, family therapy, child and adolescent mental health
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