Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT, said like the word ‘act’) is an orientation in psychotherapy, which aims to help people to lead meaningful lives; accepting what is out of your personal control and committing to actions that will improve your situation and your life.

This is done by helping you to:

• Understand, clarify, and use your values to guide and motivate your actions.
  • Your values are ‘what is important to you’, how you want to be in your life, how you want to behave towards others, yourself, and the world.
  • Understanding your values helps you to choose to do what matters to you and motivates you to make changes that are necessary to lead a meaningful life.
• Develop psychological skills and techniques to help you to manage difficult and distressing thoughts and emotions so that they have less impact on your life.
  • Learning to do what works to make your life better.
• Learn how to focus your attention:
  • Be able to fully engage in what you are doing.
  • Be able to move your attention away from thoughts that are not helping you.
  • Increase your self-knowledge and understanding.

ACT does not aim to ‘get rid of’ difficult and unpleasant emotions and experiences but assists you to accept that these happen and learn how to manage them so that you can focus on what is important to you. In this process, you often find that you become less distressed by problems and difficulties. Living and acting in line with your values has been found to result in a greater sense of contentment.

Russ Harris is an ACT trainer and his website ACT Mindfully https://actmindfully.com.au has many resources that you might find useful.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is one of the tools which are used in ACT. Many people have heard about Mindfulness, if you are not sure what it is have a look at August’s blog post which provides a bit more information and some useful apps. It is being recognised and used as a therapeutic intervention for a wide range of issues including stress, anxiety, depression, pain management, sleep difficulties, and problems with attention.

Mindfulness is a state of being aware, paying attention to and focussing on something that you choose, such as what you are doing, your breath, something that you can see. Mindfulness can help you to move your attention away from painful thoughts, emotions, and physical pain, to help you to reduce your distress and be less caught up in the distress. Mindfulness is not meditation, although you can do mindful meditations.

Your ACT therapist can help you to learn to use Mindfulness as a powerful tool to live the life you want to live. Mindfulness is a practice and takes practice, there is no right or wrong, everyone can practice and find some benefit.

Finding an ACT therapist

If you would like to try working from an ACT perspective:

• Look at ‘our staff’ page and find a psychologist who mentions ACT as one of their therapy approaches. It is an approach that I use regularly in my work. If you are not sure who is suitable, call us on 02 9715 5534 and have a chat with our friendly receptionists.
• Ask your GP for recommendations and obtain a Mental Health Care Plan if this is appropriate for you.
• The relationship between you and your therapist is important. It should feel comfortable and supportive, even when you’re discussing challenging topics.

Final Thoughts

ACT helps you to life the life you want to live, learning to do more of what you value and be less distressed and distracted by what is unhelpful for you. You learn skills and techniques that help you now and in the future.

Catherine Ephraums, Clinical Psychologist

Note: This blog post provides general information about ACT, it is not a substitute for working with a professional therapist. If you are struggling with difficult behaviours or emotions or life challenges, consider contacting a qualified professional to help you.