What is ACT?

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a treatment that focuses on getting you living a life in service of what matters to you, not just “managing” through life.

In ACT, we focus on how we respond and relate to thoughts and emotions, rather than on trying to change what we think or feel. Why is this? A central tenet of ACT is that as humans, we largely cannot control the thoughts and emotions that we experience both moment to moment and over a long-term period. If anyone has ever told you to “cheer up” or “don’t worry about it,” you know about this lack of control.

ACT redirects energy away from trying to control, manage, fix, and avoid unwanted thoughts and emotions and instead on relating and responding to them in a more workable way in your life.

We do this through six core processes. Present moment awareness is a foundational part of the treatment. The present moment is where we get to choose how we act; it’s also where pain can be felt, so sometimes we don’t want to be present with tough thoughts and emotions. We use mindfulness throughout treatment to build this skill of being present. If we aren’t present, we often make decisions that don’t line up with what’s important to us. That’s another core process - Personal values. These are seen as overarching principles and ideals that we can strive for on a daily basis and that give our lives a sense of purpose and meaning. To this end, we focus on two more core processes to work toward our values - acceptance and committed action. Acceptance is simply a willingness to experience what is present without trying to change it. Committed action is choosing behaviors that align with our values, and in doing so wresting control of our lives away from our moment-to-moment emotional experience.

Indeed, we can get fused with the stories about ourselves and who we are, for example, a “here we go again” thought pattern. Our mind is a wonderful thing, but it’s not infallible, and we are each so much more than our mind. We use Defusion to help gain the necessary separation between the sense of self and our thoughts. Finally, we connect with a perspective called the Observer Self that also helps us see that we are not our thoughts, we are just humans that experience thoughts.

ACT is such a wonderful treatment because these general principles are applicable to nearly all life situations or mental health problems. They are effective with depression, anxiety, ADHD, and trauma; and also with relationship stress, life stage changes, or general self-growth.

It’s a flexible treatment that also prioritizes the patient’s day-to-day lived experience as a rich opportunity for learning and growth.

Use the button below to reach out and learn more about ACT and my therapy approach!