ACT - Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT (pronounced as a single word), is part of the Third Wave of Behavioral Therapies. It blends cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness practices and skills development to create a unique approach to therapy.

ACT focuses on two main areas. First, it helps individuals become more aware of their internal experiences, like thoughts, emotions, and core beliefs. It teaches us to accept that these experiences are always changing. Second, ACT provides practical tools and strategies to manage these internal experiences in a healthy way, guiding us toward meaningful, values-driven goals and actions that lead to a fulfilling life.

ACT is backed by a growing amount of research, showing its effectiveness in treating common mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, substance abuse, relationship problems, PTSD, anger, eating disorders, borderline personality disorder, grief, low self-esteem, body image concerns, and even psychosis.

In essence, ACT helps people accept what is beyond their control while committing to actions that can improve their quality of life. This is achieved by teaching psychological skills to handle difficult thoughts and emotions, while also helping clarify what truly matters and taking steps toward those values.

Psychological Flexibility

A key goal of ACT, as with many other therapies, is to build "psychological flexibility." This is the ability to mindfully respond, as opposed to react, to life’s challenges rather than reacting impulsively. It involves being present, managing emotions, accepting difficulties, and continuing to make choices based on personal values.

Research shows that psychological flexibility is strongly linked to mental health and well-being. It helps people recover from tough situations, including physical illness or injury, and plays a big role in successful therapy and social adjustment.

ACT Core Principles:

Expansion

Expansion is about getting in contact with our thoughts, sensations, memory, feelings and emotions in a direct and non-judgemental way, opening up to our experiences and stopping the struggle.

Expansion is about acceptance, acceptance that some things in life are out of our control; that we cannot change some facts, and we cannot just get rid of our emotions before experiencing them entirely and letting them go.

It is about embracing life, the good and the bad, the positive and the negative, the pleasant and the unpleasant and making the most of it while striving to achieve our deepest and dearest goals and visions.

Defusion

Defusion is the antidote for what in psychology we call "Cognitive-Fusion", which is when we get 'caught up' or 'hooked' by our thoughts. Often described by clients as overthinking, worrying, rumination, negative thinking, dwelling on thoughts, intrusive thoughts and memories as well as flashbacks.

It is the process through which one can 'unhook' from unpleasant, painful or unhelpful thoughts and feelings. Not in a way to ignore them, get rid of them or distract ourselves from them; however in a way that acknowledges them but significantly reduces their power over our actions, mood and behaviours.

Presence

Our minds often wonder off, dwelling on memories or thoughts about the future. When that occurs we loose contact with the present moment and with it we loose our awareness and best capacity for thinking, decision making and action.

ACT aims to bringing awareness to our internal and internal experience as it occurs in the moment, without judgment, without struggle, without distraction. Simple awareness. This ability allows us to cope with stress and find a place of peace and stillness even among difficult times.

It also allows for contact with our core values and for decision making.

Being in touch with the present moment is also essential to seize life and enjoy the pleasant experiences we encounter.

Core Values

Values are our compass in life. They point to out North and indicate our valued directions, which means: what is really important in life!

Deep down, if money wasn't a thing, if you didn't have any limitations, what really matters to you? What would you like to be doing with your time? Answering this question is what we aim to do when we are getting in touch and clarifying our values in ACT.

Often people put their lives on hold until "they feel better", or "the right time arrives", "or when they find the motivation", or "when this sadness is gone" or "when they stop feeling anxious". Getting in touch with our values will provide us the energy and the motivation to start working towards the life we want to live, even if on baby steps to start with, because what matters more is the valued directions we choose and what we stand for as human beings. The journey matters as much as the destination.

Goal Setting and

Committed Action

As important as understanding where we want to go it is to understand how we are going to get there. Setting realistic, measurable, gradual and time-bound goals is paramount. It makes us accountable to ourselves and motivated to take action.

Moreover, apart from planning, learning skills and handling thoughts and emotions we also need to walk the talk and take the necessary steps to achieve what we want. A good therapist will be there to support you every step of the way!

Perspective Taking

Perspective taking refers to the experience of DE-identifying from our conceptualized sense of self, or Ego through re-training our attention and through mindfulness.

It refers to a sense of self that is based on presence and values, not in self-evaluations, judgments or previous experiences but a sense of self as context which is separate from and contains one's thoughts, feelings and memories.

It provides a sense of stability in a not so stable life; provides a safe and unharmed place for for whom have been traumatized, provides understanding and contextualizing of life experiences; provides calmness.

Perspective taking enhances processes of acceptance, defusion, contact with the present moment and emotional healing.