{"id":14399,"date":"2016-03-31T11:00:01","date_gmt":"2016-03-31T10:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/?p=14399"},"modified":"2023-03-12T13:49:51","modified_gmt":"2023-03-12T13:49:51","slug":"what-is-acceptance-and-commitment-therapy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/what-is-acceptance-and-commitment-therapy.htm","title":{"rendered":"What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"what<\/a>

By: Internet Archive Book Images<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

by Andrea M. Darcy<\/span><\/p>\n

Heard of ‘ACT therapy’ but not sure what it’s all about?<\/p>\n

What is acceptance and commitment therapy?<\/h2>\n

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT<\/span>) <\/a>is a form of talk psychotherapy<\/span> which uses mindfulness<\/span> <\/a>as one of its main tools.<\/p>\n

At the heart of ACT is the goal of helping you live a more meaningful and productive life by developing what it refers to as “psychological flexibility”.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is essentially about learning to accept<\/strong> what you can’t control, and then recognising and committing to taking the actions that will improve your life and moods.<\/p>\n

ACT therapy can be offered as either<\/strong> a short-term therapy<\/span> <\/a>or long-term therapy, depending on what your requirements are.<\/p>\n

A brief history of acceptance and commitment therapy<\/h2>\n

ACT was created in the mid 1990s by Steven C. Hayes, Kelly G. Wilson, and Kirk D. Strosahl, and is based on Relational Frame Theory (RFT). This is a theory of human language and cognition which states that the rational skills the human mind has learned to solve problems with might work for some things, but don’t necessarily work for psychological problems.<\/p>\n

In other words, your rational skills might solve how to handle your car breaking down on the highway, but can’t solve your heart breaking down after a relationship falls apart. When it comes to mental and emotional suffering, a new approach is needed.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Acceptance and commitment therapy is part of what is called the “third wave” of cognitive behaviour therapies.<\/a><\/span> This ‘wave’ includes dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT)<\/a><\/span>, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT)<\/a><\/span>, and then the very popular cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

How is ACT different than CBT?<\/h2>\n

Whereas CBT works to challenge and reduce your irrational thoughts<\/a> or dysfunctional feelings which cause you to suffer, ACT instead believes that suffering is a natural part of life.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Instead of trying to change<\/em> your thoughts and feelings, ACT believes that experiences should not be avoided but rather accepted<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The point of ACT therapy is not to learn to change your experience of life, but to learn to change your relationship<\/em> with your experience of life. Instead of trying to get rid of difficult emotions, ACT teaches you to get to know these feelings. Then helps you to learn not to act on them or choose situations that further create them. <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To accomplish such radical acceptance, ACT uses metaphors<\/strong> and experiential exercises.<\/strong> These teach you to be more flexible and less reactive to your feelings, thoughts, memories, and bodily sensations that cause you emotional distress.<\/p>\n

Psychological Flexibility – What Does It Mean?<\/h2>\n
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By: Amy<\/p><\/div>\n

ACT coined the term psychological flexibility to describe a new and different approach to the life events and emotional states that result in suffering.<\/p>\n

Psychological flexibility involves being present here and now, fully aware of one\u2019s self. And it means choosing responses which lead to behaviour guided by values you have recognised as meaningful to you.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Perhaps an easy way to understand what psychological flexibility is to first look at what it is not.\u00a0<\/em>Or at ‘inflexibility’.<\/p>\n

The main contributors to psychological inflexibility<\/em> are:<\/strong><\/p>\n