the effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in reducing mind wandering, improving emotional regulation, and enhancing distress tolerance in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Given the widespread consequences of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (adhd) in adults and the limitations of conventional treatments, the present study aimed to examine the effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (mbct) in reducing mind-wandering, improving emotion regulation, and increasing distress tolerance among adults with adhd. this applied research utilized a quasi-experimental design with a control group and pretest–pretest-posttest. the statistical population consisted of adults diagnosed with adhd who visited counseling centers in tehran in 2025. the sample included 30 participants selected through convenience sampling and randomly assigned to the experimental group (15 participants) and control group (15 participants). research instruments included the mind-wandering questionnaire (mwq), the cognitive emotion regulation questionnaire (cerq), the distress tolerance scale (dts), and the barkley adult adhd rating scale (baars). the experimental group attended eight 90-minute mbct sessions based on segal, williams, and teasdale's (2002) protocol and the modified version by zylowska et al. (2008), while the control group remained on a waiting list and received no intervention. data were analyzed in spss version 26 using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (multivariate analysis of covariance). the results indicate that mbct significantly reduced mind-wandering, improved emotion regulation, and increased distress tolerance in adults with adhd. these findings highlight the efficacy of mbct as a complementary approach in managing the symptoms of this disorder. therefore, mbct can enhance the emotional and cognitive functioning of this population. given the widespread consequences of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (adhd) in adults and the limitations of conventional treatments, the present study aimed to examine the effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (mbct) in reducing mind-wandering, improving emotion regulation, and increasing distress tolerance among adults with adhd. this applied research utilized a quasi-experimental design with a control group and pretest–pretest-posttest. the statistical population consisted of adults diagnosed with adhd who visited counseling centers in tehran in 2025. the sample included 30 participants selected through convenience sampling and randomly assigned to the experimental group (15 participants) and control group (15 participants). research instruments included the mind-wandering questionnaire (mwq), the cognitive emotion regulation questionnaire (cerq), the distress tolerance scale (dts), and the barkley adult adhd rating scale (baars). the experimental group attended eight 90-minute mbct sessions based on segal, williams, and teasdale's (2002) protocol and the modified version by zylowska et al. (2008), while the control group remained on a waiting list and received no intervention. data were analyzed in spss version 26 using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (multivariate analysis of covariance). the results indicate that mbct significantly reduced mind-wandering, improved emotion regulation, and increased distress tolerance in adults with adhd. these findings highlight the efficacy of mbct as a complementary approach in managing the symptoms of this disorder. therefore, mbct can enhance the emotional and cognitive functioning of this population.