Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

  • 03 Nov 2022
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  • General

Acceptance and commitment therapy is different from many types of therapy that exist. Because its primary goal is not to reduce symptoms, but to enable people to accept their feelings. In this way, it aims to create an improvement in the satisfaction and quality of life.

What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy? (ACT)

Acceptance and commitment therapy is a therapy method that focuses on the moment and at the same time allows feelings and thoughts to be accepted without judgment.

How Does ACT Work?

ACT therapy finds trying to control painful emotions or psychological experiences unproductive. Therefore, it teaches people to accept. He believes that with acceptance, people's attitudes and emotional states will change.

What are the Benefits of ACT?

The benefits of ACT are as follows:

  • It allows you to embrace thoughts that benefit you.
  • It allows you to put aside thoughts that harm you. In this way, it helps you to be affected at a minimum level.
  • ACT allows you to live a more meaningful life.
  • It provides relief from problems such as anxiety and depression.
  • ACT helps you avoid impulsive actions.
  • It allows you to consciously respond to your inner experience.

What are ACT Techniques?

Acceptance and commitment therapy techniques are as follows:

  • Cognitive Dissociation: It involves changing the way you react to upsetting thoughts and feelings. It involves observing a thought without judging, saying the thought.
  • Acceptance: It includes accepting all your thoughts and feelings.
  • Contacting the Present Moment: It involves being mindful in the present moment, observing your thoughts and feelings without judgment or trying to change them.
  • Self as Context: Claims that people are more than their thoughts, feelings, and experiences.
  • Values: It includes choosing personal values in different fields and striving to live according to these principles.
  • Decisive Action: It involves taking concrete steps to incorporate changes into your life that will align with your values and lead to positive change.

When to Use Acceptance and Commitment Therapy?

Areas of application of ACT are as follows:

  • Substance abuse
  • Anxiety
  • Stress management
  • Chronic pain
  • Controlling diabetes
  • Obsessive compulsive disorder
  • Schizophrenia
  • Eating disorders
  • Depression
  • Quit smoking
  • Do not hurt yourself

How to Find an ACT Therapist?

Acceptance and commitment therapy is a therapy administered by licensed professional counselors, social workers, or psychologists. You can get ACT therapy from professional therapists on our website.

FAQ

Is ACT Effective?

Studies testing the effectiveness of ACT as an adjunct to standard psychosocial therapy or compared to other treatments have yielded very promising results.

More research is needed to compare ACT with different experimentally supported approaches, such as 12-step facilitation and traditional relapse prevention. Studies are also needed to fully examine how ACT helps or works, such as studies examining behavior modification mechanisms. However, it would not be wrong to say that ACT is an effective therapy.

What are the six Principles of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy?

The 6 principles of the ACT are as follows:

  1. Cognitive Dissociation
  2. Extension and Acceptance
  3. Contact and Connection with the Present Moment
  4. The Observing Self
  5. Values
  6. Decisive Action

What Is ACT Used to Treat?

ACT is used to treat the following problems.

  • Depression
  • Psychosis
  • Substance use disorders
  • Anxiety
  • Obsessive compulsive disorder
  • Chronic pain

How Many Sessions of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)?

ACT therapy typically lasts 8 to 16 weeks. However, this period varies from person to person. Therefore, an exact time cannot be given.

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