Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a third-generation behavioral therapy that aims to increase the psychological flexibility of the client.
By “psychological flexibility” we mean the adaptability, well-being and mindfulness that one can develop towards life and its difficulties, while committing to living one’s life with openness and consistency towards one’s values.
This therapy initially involves the element of “acceptance”, which means having the awareness that there are situations or inner experiences (e.g. emotions, memories, physical sensations) that we have no control over and for which we need to “make room” within ourselves so that we can exist in our lives without having to be in a constant struggle with them, while in the meantime learning to manage the pain those experiences bring. Although pain and difficulty are parts of life and human nature, the constant struggle with pain, leading us to suffering, doesn’t need to be part of our lives.
On the other hand, the element of “commitment” is a set of mindful actions/behaviors and decisions that lead us to live the life we want and deeply desire, a life that is full and consistent with our values, consistent with who we want to be.
For example, a young man has recently been diagnosed with a chronic illness that makes it difficult for him/her in his/her daily life. The experience of this illness causes him/her physical and emotional discomfort and leads him/her away from living his/her life the way he/she wishes or had dreamed about.
Through ACT, this person learns how to “make room” inside him/her for what is happening that makes his/her life difficult for him/her and discovers that there are values which are important and which can motivate towards the life he/she wants to live, such as companionship, offering, adventure. So through ACT we discover ways in which he/she can move towards these values, despite the objective difficulties of the illness, so that he/she can experience his/her life with meaning and content.
There are 6 core elements/processes in ACT which we focus on in therapy and which lead us to our psychological flexibility
– Acceptance
– Contacting the present moment (here and now)
– Cognitive defusion
– The self as context
– Values
– Committed action
These elements are cultivated through mindfulness techniques, observation techniques, exercises and questionnaires aiming at discovering our values, committed action plans, etc.
An example of these exercises are the ACT value cards which can be found on the official website of the Society for Cognitive Behavioral Studies
Values cards https://cbt.edu.gr/arxeia/SET-ACT-CARDS-DEC_20_BACKSIDE.pdf

More material related to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, as well as information on a variety of self-help books, can be found on the official site of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (contextualscience.org)

An indicative book for ACT is Harris.R (2009), The Happiness Trap [Original title: The Happiness Trap: Stop Struggling, Start Living, Harris.R (2007)]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScwXgqO_d7Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93LFNtcR1Ok