Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an approach that aims to help people live a more fulfilling life, even with anxiety. It is considered a process-based approach, rather than a rigid set of techniques. Unlike some other therapies that focus on eliminating symptoms, ACT aims to change one’s relationship with their thoughts and feelings. It is based on the idea that suffering is a result of normal processes that have become unworkable and ineffective.
Here’s how ACT works and why it can be effective:
- Acceptance and Mindfulness: ACT uses acceptance and mindfulness processes to help people relate differently to distressing thoughts and feelings. Instead of trying to control or eliminate unwanted thoughts and feelings, ACT teaches people to observe them without judgement. This is a form of cognitive defusion, not an anxiety control strategy. It can help one to notice the process of thinking rather than getting caught up in the content. Mindfulness is about paying attention to the present moment, which may involve formal exercises or a conversational style. This helps one be more aware of their behaviour patterns and to see their actions from a more reasonable perspective.
- Values and Commitment: ACT encourages individuals to identify what is truly important to them (their values) and to commit to actions that align with these values. By focusing on values, people can choose to feel anxiety and still do the things that make their lives meaningful. The goal is to create a life worth living, even with some anxiety along for the ride.
- Defusion: ACT emphasizes defusion techniques, which involve seeing thoughts as just thoughts, rather than facts or truths. This can be achieved by noticing thoughts as sounds, repeating them to take away their meaning, or using metaphors. It is about uncoupling thoughts from automatic meanings and emotions.
- Experiential Approach: ACT utilizes non-verbal processes and experiential exercises. Experience and practice are key to gaining a deeper understanding of the approach. These experiences and exercises help clients make contact with their thoughts, feelings, and sensations that have been feared or avoided.
- Flexibility: A core concept of ACT is psychological flexibility, which is the ability to adapt to situations and choose actions that align with one’s values. The aim is to promote actions that are more flexible, less evaluative and more experientially based.
- Language: ACT recognises that language can entangle people in struggles against their inner lives. It seeks to undermine the tendency for anxious people to respond to their evaluations in an inflexible way. ACT works to loosen rigid and inflexible verbal regulation of behaviour.
- Context: ACT acknowledges that behaviour is situated within a context and aims to create a new context where positive human qualities can thrive. The context controls the nature of response to a situation. It helps to broaden the range of events that regulate behaviour, and undermines narrow forms of verbally regulated behaviour.
- Focus on Life: ACT shifts the focus from eliminating symptoms to enriching a person’s life. It is not just about anxiety, but about undermining the destructive patterns that get in the way of living. The emphasis on living well directs attention away from symptom-focused techniques.
- No Arguing: ACT therapists do not argue with, lecture, or coerce clients. Instead, they focus on what works for the client and what does not, without buying into anyone’s mind.
- Mindfulness is not control: Mindfulness should not be used as a control strategy to manage anxiety. Instead it is a defusion strategy that allows contact with experience as it is
- Emphasis on Process: ACT is more focused on the process of therapy, rather than simply applying techniques. It emphasizes the importance of a therapist’s skills and the therapeutic relationship.
- Compassionate Approach: ACT is underpinned by a compassionate approach, where the therapist is aware of their own struggles and meets the client from an equal and vulnerable position. It is about making contact with suffering in order to facilitate change.
In summary, ACT is effective because it helps people to:
- Accept uncomfortable thoughts and feelings without struggling against them.
- Defuse from thoughts by seeing them as mental events rather than truths.
- Focus on the present moment rather than dwelling on the past or future.
- Identify their values and commit to actions that are meaningful to them.
- Increase psychological flexibility and respond more effectively to challenges.
ACT can be used in many situations and is not restricted to specific issues like anxiety, but to overall well being.