ACCEPTANCE AND COMMITMENT THERAPY (ACT)

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy or ACT is known as a third wave therapy under the CBT umbrella. As such, it is a present focused short-term therapy. ACT has shown to be effective on depression, anxiety and long term health conditions.

As opposed to other models which aim to change the content of our thoughts, ACT focuses on changing our relationship to them and the uncomfortable feelings that show up. Thus, ACT aims to expand our choice of behaviours by increasing our ability to respond flexibly to situations that bring those up. To do that, it promotes the use of mindfulness and acceptance strategies.

This therapeutic approach particularly focuses on the contact with the present moment experience, unhooking us from thoughts and feelings so that these are no obstacle for us to move towards our valued directions.  Rather than aiming at symptom reduction, ACT aims to equip you to accept what is out of your personal control and commit to action that improves and enriches your life.

When using an ACT approach, you will be invited to consider how thoughts and emotions are leading you to step away from valued directions (e.g., working towards a promotion, forging new relationships, learning a new skill). Whilst feeling anxious or low in mood are legitimate human responses to life challenges, sometimes trying to avoid these feelings leads us away from those very things that make our life meaningful. And, before we realise, we get into a worse problem: an avoidance loop. If that is the case, we must learn a different way of dealing with our internal barriers so that we can keep moving forward.

In doing that, it defies a common fallacy that leads us to try too hard to be happy, learning to let thoughts and feelings be whilst focusing our energy and attention on doing what we want to do, rather than fighting off something we cannot get rid of.

Sessions tend to adopt an experiential stance, practising mindfulness skills to learn to change our relationship with our thoughts and feelings, whilst also identify and think of ways of moving towards what is important in our lives.

In essence, ACT has three different aspects:

• Be present: keep your attention in the present moment and make space for whichever feelings you experience.

• Open up: focusing on the present, observing your thoughts from the distance, seeing yourself as the context of those thoughts.

• Do what matters: identify the direction you want to move on (personal qualities you want to live by) and plan how to move towards those.

Please contact me to discuss how this model may be of help to address your difficulties.