Acceptance and commitment therapy, also known as ACT, is a mindfulness-based behavior therapy, known to be effective in treating a wide range of mental health struggles. ACT strays away from the Western assumption of “healthy normal” by helping clients to accept their emotions and hardships as a part of life.
ACT assumes that people become trapped in suffering when they fight to rid themselves of “symptoms’ ‘ that they blame for their suffering (such as panic attacks, intrusive thoughts, poor body image, etc.). ACT helps clients to accept their struggles and commit to making behavioral changes that align with their values.
Six core principles make up the foundation for ACT. These principles inform the therapeutic exercises used in therapy sessions to help ease psychological suffering and move clients toward a value-focused life.
What This Article Will Cover:
What does Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Treat?
The American Psychological Association has deemed ACT as an empirically supported treatment option for many mental health struggles, including, but not limited to:
In addition, ACT has proven an effective treatment option for various medical conditions, including:
Six Core Principles of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
The goal of ACT is to build psychological flexibility. Psychological flexibility is the idea that despite the struggle that a person is facing, they will be able to manage the situation in a mindful, effective, and value-centered manner. This goal is achieved through applying these six principles to treatment.
Acceptance is the central component to all of ACT. It is the active embrace of an individual’s “private events” that Western society typically teaches them to attempt to change. “Private events” are any internal experiences that a person deems unacceptable or intolerable.
For example, individuals struggling with mental illness are taught in ACT to feel their anxiety, depression, distress, etc. without defense. Individuals with chronic pain are taught to let go of the struggle with their pain and release the need to change or rid themselves of the discomfort.
Cognitive defusion is the process of changing the way an individual interacts with their thoughts. There is a whole myriad of techniques that can be applied to help individuals defuse from their thoughts. However, the ultimate goal is to decrease a person’s attachment to those “private events” that are causing pain and suffering.
Contact with the present moment refers to the practice of remaining connected with what is happening right now. Contact with the present moment involves non-judgmental observation of both psychological and environmental events as they occur.
The observing self refers to recognizing the “self as context”. To see the self as context is to be aware of one’s own experiences without attaching or investing in a particular emotion or outcome as they occur.
Defining a person’s values is a key component in ACT. ACT defines values as purposeful qualities that aren’t objects to obtain, but, instead, are actions instantiated in the moment. ACT typically has individuals identify values in various domains of their life, such as career, family, and/or spirituality.
Committed action is the bridge between a person’s values and the goals that align with these values. Unlike values, which are more conceptualized ideas instantiated in the moment, a person’s committed action involves concrete goals that they wish to achieve. This is where ACT will begin to reflect other types of behavioral therapy, as committed action involves skill building and exposure exercises to achieve a person’s identified goals.
Research Articles Referenced
Harris, R. (2006). Embracing your demons: an overview of acceptance and commitment therapy. Psychotherapy in Australia, 12(4), 70–6. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.545561433272993
Dindo, L., Van Liew, J. R., & Arch, J. J. (2017). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: A Transdiagnostic Behavioral Intervention for Mental Health and Medical Conditions. Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics, 14(3), 546–553. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13311-017-0521-3
Sahebari, M., Asghari Ebrahimabad, M. J., Ahmadi Shoraketokanlo, A., Aghamohammadian Sharbaf, H., & Khodashahi, M. (2019). Efficacy of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Reducing Disappointment, Psychological Distress, and Psychasthenia among Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) Patients. Iranian journal of psychiatry, 14(2), 130–136.
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Morgan Blair is a licensed professional counselor and freelance writer living in Denver, Colorado. Morgan holds a masters degree from Northwestern University in clinical mental health counseling. She is a contributing writer for Psychology Today and run her own counseling practice where she treats individuals suffering from a wide range of mental health struggles. When she isn't writing or working as a counselor, Morgan can be found hiking in the Colorado mountains or planning her next scuba diving trip.