| Summary: | Acceptance and commitment group therapy for teenagers with difficulties in emotional-regulation: A pilot study. Contextual literature points to the
fact that, on the basis of the difficulties of emotional regulation, there is a deficit to understand and react properly to the internal experience. There are
few proposals for the application of contextual therapies in adolescent population with these difficulties. An ACT brief psychotherapy group protocol
is proposed for teenagers with emotional-regulation difficulties. The protocol tries to achieve improvements in observation, interpretation and action
choice against unpleasant internal experiences. The intervention protocol was developed in a Public Mental Healthcare System of Spain to eight
participants. The assessment consisted of the application of the Emotional Regulation Difficulty Scale (DERS-E) and the Experiential Avoidance
Questionnaire II (AAQ-II) pre and post-intervention, as well as the record of the Clinically Relevant Behaviors (RCCs) of the participants during the
group therapy. Exercises applied during the six protocol sessions are described, specifying the clinical target of every exercise and some of the
interventions of therapists and participants are detailed. There is a significant improvement in scores related to behavioral components (impulsivity,
interference to goals, strategies of emotional regulation) than in variables related to emotional awareness and changes in RCCs are observed. Results point out the need of reinforcing emotional awareness exercises in the protocol. It is necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention
in a larger sample of adolescents.
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