# How ACT processes protect during the menopausal transition: distinct roles of openness and committed action in anxiety and depression - URL: https://alisanburak.com/en/wcp-2026-posterler/so012 - Language: en - Last updated: not specified - Page title: How ACT processes protect during the menopausal transition: distinct roles of openness and committed action in anxiety and depression | WCP 2026 Summary > During the menopausal transition, openness to emotional experience is the only protective correlate of anxiety, while values-guided committed action is the onl… This page was translated automatically from Turkish. [Read the original](https://alisanburak.com/wcp-2026-posterler/so012) This page is an AI-assisted Turkish summary of the study presented at the 26th World Congress of Psychiatry. The study belongs to the presenting authors; please refer to the original source when citing it. SO012 Brief Oral Poster PresentationPerinatal and Women's HealthCross-sectional study (baseline data from a pilot RCT) # How ACT processes protect during the menopausal transition: distinct roles of openness and committed action in anxiety and depression HOW ACT PROCESSES PROTECT DURING THE MENOPAUSAL TRANSITION DISTINCT ROLES OF OPENNESS AND COMMITTED ACTION FOR ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION Presenter: Lindakristin Kempe Country: France Institution: Université Côte d'Azur, LAPCOS UPR 7278 Session: 2590 - PARALLEL SHORT ORAL POSTER SESSIONS: MISCELLANEOUS - Part I Date: Thu, 24.09.2026 During the menopausal transition, openness to emotional experience is the only protective correlate of anxiety, while values-guided committed action is the only protective correlate of depression; committed action also weakens the association between symptom burden and depression. The aim was to examine whether three processes of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)—openness to emotional experience, present-moment awareness, and values-guided committed action—play distinct protective roles against anxiety and depression during the menopausal transition and buffer the association between symptom burden and psychological distress. A cross-sectional analysis was conducted using baseline data from a pilot randomized controlled trial of a self-guided online ACT program; the sample comprised 49 French-speaking perimenopausal and menopausal women aged 40 to 60 years (mean age 49.84; standard deviation 4.44; January and February 2025). The predictor was the total Menopause Rating Scale (MRS) score, the moderators were the CompACT subscales (openness alpha = 0.64; awareness alpha = 0.83; committed action alpha = 0.84), and the outcome variables were HADS anxiety (alpha = 0.73) and HADS depression (alpha = 0.70); hierarchical linear regression was used. In the main-effects analyses, openness was associated only with anxiety (B = -0.273; p < 0.001; partial eta squared = 0.35; 95% CI -0.386 to -0.159), and committed action only with depression (B = -0.188; p = 0.002; eta squared = 0.19; 95% CI -0.306 to -0.071); symptom burden predicted anxiety (B = 0.218; p = 0.003; eta squared = 0.18) but not depression (B = 0.087; p = 0.248). Present-moment awareness showed neither a direct nor a moderating association with either outcome. The interaction between MRS and committed action was significant for depression (B = -0.019; p = 0.037; eta squared = 0.10; 95% CI -0.037 to -0.001); simple slope analysis showed that symptom burden predicted depression among those with low committed action (B = 0.260; p = 0.037), but not among those with high committed action (B = -0.071; p = 0.488). None of the processes showed a moderating effect for anxiety (MRS x openness p = 0.782; MRS x awareness p = 0.164; MRS x committed action p = 0.079). Because the interaction block in the depression model was not significant as a whole (delta R² = 0.075; p = 0.178) and N = 49, the findings were presented as hypothesis-generating signals rather than confirmed effects; the variance explained by the models increased from R² = 0.492 to 0.533 for anxiety and from R² = 0.332 to 0.407 for depression. In conclusion, psychological flexibility is not a single protective resource; fostering openness when anxiety predominates and reconnection with values when depressive symptoms predominate may offer a process-matched approach, which should be tested in longitudinal designs. [View the original poster](https://cslide.ctimeetingtech.com/wcp26/attendee/eposter/file/1122) How to cite this study APA 7: Kempe, L., et al. (2026, September 24). How act processes protect during the menopausal transition distinct roles of openness and committed action for anxiety and depression [Poster presentation]. 26th WPA World Congress of Psychiatry (WCP 2026), Stockholm, Sweden. https://cslide.ctimeetingtech.com/wcp26/attendee/eposter/file/1122 Vancouver: Kempe L, et al. How act processes protect during the menopausal transition distinct roles of openness and committed action for anxiety and depression [poster]. 26th WPA World Congress of Psychiatry (WCP 2026); 2026 Sep 23-26; Stockholm, Sweden. 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