Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

Calling all people who have experienced traditional Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) before with limited to no success…ACT is a breath of fresh air! Whereas CBT asks “how rational is our thinking?” ACT asks “what do you want your life to be about in this moment?”

Developed by Dr. Steven C. Hayes in the 1980’s, ACT differs from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in that rather trying to teach people to better control or change their thoughts, emotions, body sensations, memories and other private events, ACT teaches people to drop their struggle with these experiences…including the most painful ones. ACT assumes that psychological suffering is caused by a combination of avoidance of/entanglement with our private experiences which leads us to live our lives very inconsistently with our chosen values. ACT places a heavy emphasis on values exploration in therapy, which is a vital step in breaking behavior patterns that no longer serve us, or don’t contribute to a rich and meaningful life.

ACT teaches people Mindfulness skills that enable us to handle difficult thoughts and feelings effectively, engage fully in whatever we are doing, and appreciate and savor the fulfilling aspects of life. ACT is for people who would like therapy to be more about living, and less about challenging the plethora of thoughts that inevitably show up in our daily lives.

You can learn more about ACT here!