University of North Texas

Amy Murrell, left, and Adriel Boals, right, both assistant professors of psychology, will determine if Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is effective in treating post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in clients of Denton County Friends of the Family, which provides free outreach services to individuals who have been affected by relationship violence, sexual assault or both.

Murrell and Boals will recruit 80 participants for the study, which is being funded by a $15,000 grant from the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health. The study participants will attend four sessions in small groups to learn Acceptance and Commitment Therapy skills.

The program will teach individuals to notice feelings and thoughts resulting from a traumatic event. But instead of learning how to better control those feelings and thoughts, the individuals learn to accept them and focus on their personal values and goals, treating the traumatic event as one of many events in their lives. They also learn to embrace their “self-as-context” — the you that observes and experiences events, yet is always distinct from thoughts, feelings and memories.

Murrell was one of the first psychologists to use this type of therapy in children who have witnessed domestic violence. More recently, she was the co-author of The Joy of Parenting: An Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Guide to Effective Parenting in the Early Years, which is written for parents of children, ages 2-8.

Boals, who has researched voluntary and involuntary memories of people with the disorder, says he believes the therapy can go above and beyond conventional therapy for the disorder and can be used throughout life.

After results from the research are published next year, the professors plan to seek National Institutes of Health funding for a larger study.