What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)?
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ACT emphasizes making values-based decisions rather than decisions that are based on avoidance of pain or discomfort. ACT is based on the premise that by acting on one's values, a person creates a meaningful life.
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ACT also emphasizes a skill called, "cognitive defusion", which assists a person in getting more space from their negative thoughts and reducing the control that a negative thought has in a person's life. ACT also emphasizes mindfulness to assist an individual to notice their thoughts, emotions, and behaviours as part of their current experience rather than "facts" about a situation or problems to be solved. Research shows that the more we try to suppress our thoughts or emotions, the more intense our negative emotions and thoughts become! Thus by emphasizing acceptance of current thoughts and emotions, ACT has the counter-intuitive impact of actually regulating emotions and thoughts. ACT (and many mindfulness-based therapies) holds the belief that while pain in life can't be avoided because everyone experiences loss, the unnecessary suffering that stems from trying to avoid and reject painful emotions or experiences is optional. However, ACT is not only about accepting current experiences because it also emphasizes values-based action.
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What is the difference between cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and ACT?
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ACT is sometimes referred to as a "third wave" CBT treatment because it still examines an individual's thoughts, behaviors, and emotions, but has a slightly different emphasis to traditional CBT. Traditional CBT focuses on examining the evidence that may support or not support a person's negative thinking patterns, with the aim of assisting a person to come to a conclusion that is realistic (or not realistic) in light of the evidence. ACT still focuses on examining a person's negative thoughts patterns, but rather than attempting to evaluate the thoughts as realistic or unrealistic, ACT focuses on letting go of the idea that thoughts can be proven or disproven. Instead, ACT places more emphasis on relating to your thoughts in a different way instead of trying to change them.
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Both ACT and CBT emphasize making behavioural changes, but with slightly different approaches. ACT emphasizes taking action in line with our values to live a more meaningful life, whereas CBT tends to emphasize exposure therapy for anxiety, behavioral experiments to test out a person's assumptions, or other types of behavioral methods such as behavioural learning principles. Both ACT and CBT can achieve similar things, depending on a person's concerns, but through different methods.
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Who is ACT helpful for?
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Unlike many other therapies, ACT does not presume that someone needs to have a clinical diagnosis, adjustment problems, or high stress to benefit from ACT. Anybody who wishes to make decisions that are more aligned with their values or have more meaning in their lives can likely benefit from ACT. For example someone may wish to explore potential career options that are more in line with their values, prioritize their responsibilities in a way that matches their values (e.g. work-life balance), or simply have more meaning in their lives.
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That being said, ACT is also helpful for a range of clinical concerns such as mood and anxiety disorders.
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