ACT is a modern, evidence based form of psychotherapy that combines, mindfulness, acceptance, and behavior change strategies to help you live a more flexible, values driven life. Rather than focusing on eliminating difficult, thoughts and emotions, ACT helps you develop a different relationship with them so you can move toward what matters most.
ACT can be helpful for a wide range of concerns, including:
If you feel stuck or disconnected from the life you want, ACT offers a path forward. You don’t have to be stuck in cycles of worry, self criticism, or avoidance. ACT can help you develop a more flexible and compassionate relationship with your thoughts and emotions so you can move toward a life that feels meaningful and fulfilling.
Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is an evidence-based form of psychotherapy that helps people develop greater psychological flexibility—the ability to respond more effectively to difficult thoughts and emotions while continuing to take action toward what matters to them.
Rather than trying to eliminate uncomfortable thoughts or feelings, ACT helps people change their relationship with those experiences. Treatment incorporates mindfulness, acceptance, values clarification, and behavioral strategies to help people spend less energy struggling with internal experiences and more energy building a meaningful life.
Acceptance and commitment therapy can be used to address a variety of mental health and behavioral concerns, including anxiety, depression, stress, trauma-related difficulties, chronic pain, health-related concerns, perfectionism, and relationship difficulties.
ACT may be particularly helpful when attempts to avoid, control, or get rid of uncomfortable thoughts and emotions have begun interfering with daily life. Treatment focuses not only on reducing distress, but also on helping people identify what matters to them and take meaningful action in those areas of their lives.
ACT works by helping people become more psychologically flexible. Instead of automatically reacting to difficult thoughts and emotions—or organizing life around avoiding them—people learn to notice those experiences, make room for discomfort, and choose how they want to respond.
ACT typically focuses on six interconnected processes: acceptance, cognitive defusion, present-moment awareness, self-as-context, values, and committed action. Together, these skills can help people become less controlled by difficult internal experiences and more able to make choices based on their goals and values.
During an ACT therapy session, you and your therapist may explore difficult thoughts and emotions, identify patterns of avoidance, clarify what matters most to you, and develop practical ways to take action consistent with your values.
ACT sessions may include mindfulness exercises, experiential activities, metaphors, discussion, and behavioral practice. For example, rather than debating whether a difficult thought is true, you might practice noticing the thought without automatically responding to it. You may also identify small, concrete actions you can take between sessions to move toward the relationships, activities, or goals that are important to you.
The goal is not necessarily to stop experiencing anxiety, sadness, self-doubt, or other uncomfortable emotions. Instead, ACT helps you develop the flexibility to experience difficult internal states without allowing them to determine how you live your life.
