Choosing Change: How Acceptance & Commitment Therapy Helps
Frequently, one opts to start therapy with the goal of reducing symptoms that are hampering their life. Such a person may not expect to encounter tools like metaphor and mindfulness. But this is part of what Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is all about. Another important component of ACT is the intention to address mental issues without the use of medications.
At the risk of oversimplifying, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy teaches clients to choose change. This manifests them in shifting how they relate to their own negative emotions and thoughts. By altering this relationship, they can prevent these thoughts from dominating their psyche.
Word Association
ACT guides you into exploring your self-talk. It’s not uncommon for people to associate negative concepts with themselves. This reflexive response can short-circuit success when your inner critic assigns derogatory qualities to you — and you believe it. ACT serves to excavate such conditioning and help you replace it with a positive reality.
After just a few ACT sessions, you:
Become skilled at recognizing how you talk to yourself and the role this plays in your life
Identify situations and scenarios that are impacting your life
Differentiate issues that can be changed from issues that require acceptance
Commit to either path
5 Common Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Techniques and Protocols
1. Unhooking
As you get trapped in a negative cycle, you may begin to believe that your feelings are hooked to specific actions. If you think one way, then this bad thing must happen. Unhooking is exactly what it sounds like. Your ACT therapist will help you learn how to “unhook” thoughts from experiences and accept your ability to control this process.
2. Creative Hopelessness
You may truly believe that you are taking agency but, in reality, you’re stuck in the mire of ineffective actions and choices. Creative hopelessness inspires clients to find hope that they can break this cycle. This is accomplished when the client uses real-life examples to identify new perspectives and new strategies.
3. Cognitive Defusion
Think of this as a conscious choice to detach. You create space between yourself and what is controlling you. Taking some distance from emotions and thoughts defuses their power. Thoughts can be accurately perceived as nothing more than thoughts. Through such efforts, we disarm what we think has power over us. For example, you might tell yourself that you’re a failure. Cognitive delusion guides us to see reality, e.g. “I’m telling myself I’m failure based on a few bad moments in my life.”
4. Self as Context
Following up on #3 above, this is all about injecting some separation between you and your experiences. It sounds simple but it’s a life-altering technique. Let’s say you screwed up when giving a presentation. It is important to not see yourself through the lens of that single episode. You are not defined by individual moments — good or bad.
5. Valuing
We live in a culture that does its best to define our needs and wants for us. This is the core of consumerism. But you are not a consumer. You are a complex human being with distinct values and beliefs. Only you get to decide what gives your life meaning. ACT is designed — through “valuing” — to remind you who you are.
What Conditions Can ACT Help?
ACT is a diverse and adaptable form of treatment. It’s been found to be effective for countless issues, including:
Substance abuse
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Depression
Stress in many forms
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Eating disorders
Depression
Anxiety
If this proven, creative, and very helpful therapy interests you, I invite you to set up a free and confidential consultation. Let’s connect and get you started.