What Acceptance And Commitment Therapy Can Do For You
If you’ve been considering trying talk therapy, you may have come across a modality called acceptance and commitment therapy, or ACT. This article will explore what ACT is, whether it may be a good fit for you, and how you can find a licensed acceptance and commitment therapist
What is ACT?
ACT therapy centers around mindfulness, psychological flexibility and teaches the client how to be consistent with these practices. By being more mindful of your actions, you may find that you become more self-aware and improve your well-being.
ACT can help those who want to learn more about mindfulness or want to accomplish their goals through mindfulness therapy or other ways. It's also good for trying to control your negative thoughts or emotions. You don't need to have an official mental health diagnosis to benefit from ACT.
FEAR and ACT
Acceptance and commitment therapy utilizes the acronym, FEAR, to help people overcome this mindset. FEAR stands for:
F - Fusion with your thoughts. In other words, you become what your negative thoughts claim you are.
E - Evaluation of experience. You critically look at your life experiences to the point where it brings you down.
A - Avoidance of your experience. You avoid any good experiences you may have.
R - Reason. This is the explanation you apply in concluding that your behaviors are the way they are.
Learning about FEAR can help lay the foundation for ACT, which is about mindfully accepting the present and taking action to improve your well-being.
A - Accept your reactions. You should learn to control your emotions and concentrate on the present rather than the past.
C - Choose. You should choose the path you want to walk on, ideally one that aligns with your goals and principles.
T - Take action. You should act on your goals instead of thinking about doing them some other time.
History of ACT
Steven Hayes, a psychologist, developed ACT in the early 1980s, but full health manuals for ACT were not published until the late 1990s. The therapy is modeled after relational frame theory, or RFT, which was about our language. RFT believed that the problem-solving skills we use could also be used to triumph over psychological trauma. ACT was created because of and expanded upon this idea, delving more deeply into how we handle pain and challenges in life.
ACT theory
ACT theory centers around the idea that difficult or negative emotions are not necessarily bad. Some people view negative emotions like demons that need to be expelled, but ACT wants you to learn how to more healthfully control your thoughts and emotions. Also, ACT believes in correcting the stereotype that those who are seeking therapy are broken people. Instead, they're people who may seek to learn, grow, and get the most out of life.
ACT teaches mindfulness, which we will discuss later, and mindfulness exercises that the client can use to get the most awareness out of the present moment. When it comes to negativity, ACT teaches the clients to be compassionate with their own emotions and not worry about what is to come. Instead, the clients learn to take actions that align with their principles rather than focusing too much on challenges like anxiety and depression.
ACT is simply about living in the present and accepting your negative emotions, while learning to take actionable steps to work through them and move toward your goals, whatever they may be.
ACT's six processes
ACT has six core processes to achieve psychological flexibility. Psychological flexibility is when you open yourself up to other people and accomplish your goals. These principles may overlap; they are not steps you take but rather a winding pathway that sometimes connects, and some principles may need to be repeated. The processes depend upon the client and their experiences.
Process 1: Recognition of past success
The client will look at their prior attempts to fix their problems. Sometimes, the solutions in the past may have worked but could need some tweaking to make them even better. Other times, the prior attempts did not work at all, and the client can discard it. The ACT will allow the client to figure out what approaches are healthy and effective, and which are not.
Process 2: Acceptance
The idea here is to practice noticing your difficult emotions and consciously accept them, rather than judging them, fighting them, avoiding them, or feeling guilty for them. In ACT, acceptance is not viewed as the goal itself, but rather as a steppingstone to encourage action and positive results.
Process 3: Learning your direction
One important principle in ACT is figuring out what life directions you most want to navigate. This is perhaps one of the most important ways for people to figure out how they like to live their lives.
Process 4: Action
Taking action often involves recognizing and taking mindful steps towards behavior changes that help you move in the direction you’d like in life. It aids in learning to recognize, practice, and embrace behaviors that help you move in the right direction.
Process 5: Mindfulness
One of the most important themes of ACT is mindfulness. Mindfulness is a principle in numerous modern therapies that involves being in the moment and aware of the present.
That may not make sense at first. You are in the present, and you are aware of your surroundings, right? Not necessarily. Many of our actions are on autopilot. We may not often stop and pay attention to all the tiny details around us, or observe the behaviors of our bodies or explore our senses. Mindfulness helps us to gain greater self-awareness as well as greater awareness of the world around us. It’s a means to both slow down and reconnect with ourselves and with others.
Mindfulness techniques can help raise awareness of the world around you and enhance your senses, thoughts, and emotions. When it comes to your thoughts, mindfulness teaches you to notice and healthily handle any negative thoughts that come to your mind though cognitive defusion. Mindfulness teaches you how to control your emotions instead of letting them control you, and many people find that practicing mindfulness improves their mental health and ability to manage stressors.
Process 6: Values clarification
Finally, we look at values clarification, which is another way to help client figure out the most important goal(s) in their life. Once they find your goals and values, the therapist will assign exercises to assist the client in taking action based on those values and goals. Consider values to be like a map that helps the client journey to their destination.
Finding a therapist
With acceptance and commitment therapy, a therapist practicing it does not have to have official certification (though they do still need to be a licensed and accredited therapist in order to legally administer any type of therapy). Instead, the therapist can identify themselves as having expertise in ACT. That's a bit of a double-edged sword because anyone can practice ACT which makes it a more available form of therapy, but this can also make it tough to control quality. Other types of therapy, like cognitive therapy (CT), cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), or dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), typically do require specialized training, which can make them less accessible, though they may be easier to find through professional organizations like the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT). One way to find a trusted therapist is to look at the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science. The Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS) is a global nonprofit professional organization. The ACBS contains a voluntary registry for ACT therapists, which can help connect clients to therapists.
Also, you can do some research on ACT therapists near you. Contacting your local health center or a university is a good way to start. You can also look up reviews on therapists to see if they are qualified and experienced in the therapeutic techniques in which you are interested.
Effectiveness of ACT therapy
Since it's a relatively new form of treatment, with the first manuals being published a little under two decades ago, its full potential still hasn't been studied. However, a 2020 meta-analysis focused on ACT efficacy examined 133 studies involved 12,477 participants. This analysis found ACT to be effective for treatment and management of a broad range of mental health conditions and concerns, including depression, chronic pain, substance use, anxiety, improvement of quality of life, and more.
Online therapy can help
If you’re struggling with your own thoughts and emotions, aren’t sure how to move forward life, or if you want to seek therapy in general, consider reaching out to a counselor. Regain offers individual as well as relationship counseling and can be utilized anywhere you have an internet connection – including your own home! Additionally, online therapy has been found to be overall just as effective as in-person therapy. A meta-analysis of 16 randomized controlled trials focused specifically on mindfulness-based therapies, including ACT, delivered online and the implications specifically for clients dealing with stress. The meta-analysis found online ACT to be effective at improving stress and mental health, while offering the added benefits of increased availability and convenience as well as reduced cost compared to in-person therapy options.
Takeaway
Acceptance and commitment therapy can aid in improving mental well-being through six actionable processes. The primary focus is on cultivating a sense of mindfulness that can help clients process difficult emotions and life events rather than trying to fight or run from them while helping clients to recognize and implement changes to lead a more fulfilling life.
If you’re ready to find the right therapist for you or would just like to learn more, take the first step here.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the goal of acceptance and commitment therapy?
The goal of acceptance commitment therapy (ACT) is to help people focus on their reality while ensuring that their actions are based on their evaluated personal values. Specifically, people who explore this form of therapy will learn skills to help them be more psychologically flexible.
The name “Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)” aptly captures the therapy's goal. Through it, individuals are helped to accept who they are while also staying committed to actions that can make their lives better and positive. This mindfulness-based behavior therapy has proven effective with diverse clinical conditions: depression, chronic pain, workplace stress, anxiety, OCD, and even schizophrenia.
The above isn't the only result achieved through ACT. This form of therapy also involves reducing or eliminating feelings of guilt over actions that are not within human control.
In achieving the goal of ACT, acceptance and mindfulness have always been effective. However, the overall goals of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) are as follows:
Increase work performance
Improve physical health
Increase the quality of life
Reduce psychopathology
Produce psychological flexibility in embracing one’s thoughts and feelings and focusing attention on the value one behold.
This commitment therapy act can come in handy for persons experiencing anxiety, depression, eating disorders, or addictions. Therefore, if you are experiencing any form of mental illness, you might want to find an ACT therapist.
Is acceptance and commitment therapy a form of CBT?
No, it is not a form of cognitive-behavioral therapy. This is because some forms of behavior therapy include cognitive therapy and ACT. Acceptance and commitment employ the general idea of viewing life as it is without trying to suppress or ignore what comes with it. On the other hand, cognitive-behavioral therapy advocates for a world where the challenges are identified, and efforts are put into changing thought patterns and behaviors that aren’t useful.
The techniques adopted in ACT include the use of metaphors, paradoxes, case studies, and asking questions that evoke deep thoughts about who individuals really are. For cognitive therapy, journaling, role-playing, and teaching individuals to see things from a different perspective are embraced.
ACT therapists concentrate on the six principles of ACT. This is to help achieve the end goal of ACT. However, CBT therapists concentrate on helping you identify different negative thoughts and help with dealing with them. Also, in achieving the goal of CBT, therapists may expose individuals experiencing any mental illness to triggering scenarios. This tactic aims to reduce fear around such scenarios in those individuals.
What are the principles of acceptance and commitment therapy?
Six principles are employed by ACT therapists:
Acceptance
This process is aimed at helping people accept their experiences without actively trying to ignore them. The process also involves embracing the present situation without struggling to get rid of them. For example, if you are faced with a problem, rather than trying to act like the problem doesn't exist or distracting yourself from such an issue, this process of acceptance urges you to admit that the problem exists.
Here, a discussion about acceptance and mindfulness is necessary. While acceptance teaches you to admit that an issue exists, mindfulness is used to figure out what is happening. That is, mindfulness is an awareness tactic.
Cognitive defusion
This technique intends to change how an individual reacts to thoughts and feelings. ACT therapy does not limit an individual to just the negative thoughts but rather encourages facing them, which can help to reduce fixation on those experiences.
Being present
Here, people are made to stay aware of what is happening around them without attaching any judgmental note to their processing of the events. In other words, it involves being aware of the present moment without trying to predict the experience or being judgmental.
Self as context
Even though experiences contribute to individual traits, this process involves helping people see themselves beyond such experiences.
Values
Values are integral to humans; thus, people must recognize their values. These values are important under ACT because people are made to live and act in ways that conform to their values.
Committed action
The goal here is to help individuals engage more in activities that will help them more easily self-actualize. Committed action is about taking effective action and behaving in ways that are guided by your values. This is effective in finding the best means of actualizing personal goals.
How effective is acceptance and commitment therapy?
The effectiveness of ACT was affirmed in January 2006 through a journal edition that centers on Behavior Research and Therapy. In that edition, 13 clinical trials that included different forms of therapy were carried out. The result was that most individuals who underwent ACT greatly improved as opposed to others who received other forms of therapy.
What is ACT best for?
Acceptance and commitment therapy has been found effective for treating and improving various mental illnesses. When people seek ACT therapists, they are often experiencing depression, anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, substance abuse, addiction, chronic pain, or eating disorders. These illnesses fit within the scope of what ACT tackles.
Also, a review carried out in 2015 revealed that the commitment therapy act is best used for mental illnesses like anxiety, depression, and addiction. Beyond this, the therapy is also an effective way of dealing with trauma, personality disorders, and distress that comes from relationships.
How do you accept acceptance and commitment therapy?
It is one thing to find an ACT therapist, but it is another thing to accept the therapy. While ACT therapists can help clients achieve psychological flexibility through the six principles of commitment therapy, individuals can only truly attain those processes through acceptance.
There are various forms of ACT acceptance, and here are ways to achieve them.
Strike a balance between your weaknesses and strengths. As individuals, we are mostly scared to acknowledge our weaknesses. Oftentimes, such admission is seen as a weakness in itself. However, ACT acceptance takes the form of admitting their existence. A recognition of the weaknesses isn’t to dwell on them but to make you admit that humans will always have them. Also, a mistake that should not be made is concentrating a lot on our weaknesses to the detriment of our strengths and vice versa.
Issues should be dealt with by admitting their existence. The idea here is that problems are never solved by ignoring them. Rather, they are solved by admitting and working towards resolving them. An admission helps with gradually helping people get over such events by reducing the impact on them.
Be conscious of your thought processes and how you arrive at them. Be mindful of how your feelings come about. Always remind yourself that you are the ultimate controller of your actions, thoughts, and feelings. Also, you should take note of what you are feeling during this phase.
Another form of accepting this behavior therapy is by always remembering that while life is largely positive, there are instances that certain challenges are inevitable.
Is ACT for anxiety?
While it is true that being anxious can be a natural part of the human experience at times, an anxiety disorder often benefits from therapeutic interventions.
There are different forms of anxiety disorders. They include social phobia, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Treatment for this mental illness includes the use of medications or therapy.
There are different forms of therapy for anxiety, including ACT. Acceptance and commitment therapy has been confirmed to be an effective therapy for anxiety disorders.
The forms employed by ACT therapists for anxiety are:
Acceptance of the existence of anxiety in the various forms it presents itself. This could be in the form of fearful thoughts or emotions that leave you feeling anxious. Upon this acceptance, means of reducing them are employed.
Staying mindful of your thoughts is another form employed through therapy. Acceptance and commitment also employ mindfulness as they go hand in hand. This is because mindfulness helps you stay aware of what is happening, and without it, an acceptance of such reality is impossible.
Working towards recognizing your values. Also, an act therapist for anxiety will urge you to highlight your goals and recognize how your values can help attain such goals. Achievement of this helps individuals shift their focus from their constant worries to truly achieving their goals.
How do you practice acceptance?
Acceptance is an integral part of the processes employed in making acceptance and commitment therapy effective. Acceptance means not trying to ignore or suppress certain events, thoughts, or feelings that one has experienced.
Practicing acceptance under ACT can take the form of:
Embracing the pain. This requires conscious effort because people would rather let go of their pain. The good part here is that embracing the pain helps you reduce its impact or be freed from it.
Not trying to struggle with our emotions. You should learn to feel them and process them.
Do not feel negative if you are experiencing any mental disorder. Do not try to disregard the feelings that come with mental illnesses.
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