Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT)
contextualpsychology.org
The single most remarkable fact of human existence is how hard it is for human beings to be happy. If we add up all those humans who are or have been depressed, addicted, anxious, angry, self-destructive, alienated, worried, compulsive, workaholic, insecure, painfully shy, divorced, avoidant of intimacy, stressed, and so on, we are compelled to reach this startling conclusion: Pain and suffering are characteristic of human life. Fortunately, from an ACT perspective pain and suffering are two different things.
Among both therapists and clients, the prevailing view is that a more vital life can be attained by overcoming and getting rid of negative thoughts and feelings. Then why do so many people continue to suffer with behavior disorders, adjustment difficulties, and low life satisfaction? Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a unique empirically based psychological intervention based on Relational Frame Theory that addresses this question by altering the very ground on which rational change strategies rest.
Within a coherent theoretical and philosophical framework, ACT uses acceptance and mindfulness strategies, together with commitment and behavior change strategies, to increase psychological flexibility. Psychological flexibility means contacting the present moment fully as a conscious human being, and based on what the situation affords changing or persisting in behavior in the service of chosen values. ACT illuminates the ways that language entangles clients into futile attempts to wage war against their own inner lives. Through metaphor, paradox, and experiential exercises clients learn how to make healthy contact with thoughts, feelings, memories, and physical sensations that have been feared and avoided. Clients gain the skills to recontextualize and accept these private events, develop greater clarity about personal values, and commit to needed behavior change. |
