ACT
Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT, like the verb) is a scientifically proven form of behavioral therapy where the goal is to increase your psychological flexibility.
Psychological flexibility is described as your ability to make contact with the present moment and, depending on what the situation offers, to either change your behavior or persist based on your personal values.
In other words, this means that you no longer fight against things that you cannot control, such as your thoughts, feelings or other difficulties in your daily life. Instead, you consciously learn to live in the moment and use your personal values as a compass.
ACT does not focus on reducing symptoms, but this is often a welcome by-product. The philosophy of ACT says that painful experiences are inevitable in life and that the way we deal with these experiences detemines the quality of life. ACT had been proven to be an effective form of therapy in the treatment of anxiety, obsessive-compulsive related symptoms, depression, chronic pain and other symptoms.
Core processes
There are six processes within ACT that work together to increase psychological flexibility.
1. Mindfulness: consciously directing your attention to the present moment.
2. Cognitive Defusion: this means to unhook or not get stuck to thoughts. You learn to view your thoughts with more distance without taking them too seriously.
3. Acceptance: learning to make space for unpleasant experiences such as painful feelings, emotions, tendencies or thoughts.
4. The self: become more flexible in the way you view yourself.
5. Values: explore what is really important to you and use these values as a guide in daily life.
6. Committed Action: taking action in the direction of your values to create a rich and meaningful life.
Would you like more information? Please do not hesitate to contact us.
You can read more information about ACT on the website the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS)