Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for Anxiety

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a unique approach that aims to address concerns about anxiety and fear in a mindful and compassionate way, encouraging people to pursue what really matters to them. ACT helps clients accept themselves and others with compassion, choose valued directions for their lives, and commit to actions that lead them in those directions. Unlike traditional therapies that focus on reducing negative emotions, ACT focuses on increasing psychological flexibility.

Core Principles of ACT:

• Accept thoughts and feelings: Embrace thoughts and feelings, especially unwanted ones like anxiety, pain, or guilt. The goal is to end the struggle with unwanted thoughts and feelings by not attempting to eliminate or change them.
• Choose directions: Identify and focus on what really matters in life and what you value.
• Take action: Commit to actions that align with chosen values.

How ACT Processes Help Overcome Anxiety:

• Acceptance vs. Control: ACT challenges the idea that anxious thoughts and feelings must be controlled or reduced to live a happy life. Instead, it suggests that the struggle to control anxiety is the problem, not anxiety itself. By accepting unwanted thoughts and feelings, clients can reduce the energy spent on control efforts.
• Mindfulness: Mindfulness exercises help clients experience their experiences fully, including evaluations, thoughts, and memories, in a context where experiential avoidance is unnecessary. It is essential that clients do not use mindfulness or any exercises as a control strategy to manage their anxiety.
• Values-Based Action: ACT encourages clients to identify their values and commit to actions aligned with those values. This shifts the focus from symptom reduction to living a meaningful life.
• Cognitive Defusion: ACT uses defusion techniques to weaken the fusion of language, experience, and behavioural actions. This helps clients experience directly and fully what is, for what it is, while doing what matters to them.
• Exposure Recontextualized: While traditional CBT uses exposure to reduce anxiety, ACT reinterprets it as an experiential exercise to feel better (become better at feeling) rather than to feel better (feel less anxiety).

Why Choose an ACT Therapist for Anxiety?

• Addresses the Core Issue: ACT addresses the struggle to control and avoid unwanted thoughts and feelings, which is often at the heart of anxiety problems.
• Promotes Psychological Flexibility: ACT aims to increase psychological flexibility, enabling clients to be open to present experiences, shift attention voluntarily, and develop habits that move life in valued directions.
• Focuses on Values: ACT helps clients clarify their values and commit to actions aligned with those values, providing a sense of purpose and direction.
• Encourages Acceptance: ACT encourages acceptance of internal experiences, reducing the need for experiential avoidance.
• Evidence-Based: ACT is a third-wave behaviour therapy with a growing body of research supporting its effectiveness for anxiety and other psychological problems.

In summary, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) offers a compassionate approach to dealing with work anxiety that emphasises acceptance, mindfulness, values, and committed action. Clients may wish to engage an anxiety therapist that offers acceptance and commitment therapy for anxiety because it addresses the core issue of struggling with anxiety, promotes psychological flexibility, focuses on values, encourages acceptance, and is evidence-based.

Tags: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, ACT, anxiety, psychological flexibility, mindfulness, values, acceptance, committed action