ACT – Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, commonly known as ACT Therapy, is a form of psychotherapy that has gained significant attention in recent years for its focus on helping individuals live a more fulfilling and meaningful life.

ACT Therapy is grounded in the principles of mindfulness and acceptance, and is designed to help individuals develop psychological flexibility, which can be especially helpful in managing difficult emotions and behaviors. With its roots in the cognitive-behavioral tradition, ACT Therapy offers a unique approach to treatment that incorporates techniques from other therapeutic approaches, including mindfulness meditation and behavior analysis.

What if there was a large pit between you and the monster as you engaged in a tug of war? No matter how hard you pulled, the monster was far stronger, and eventually you would lose and tumble into the pit.

What options would be available to you in this scenario? Should you keep pulling and battling till your final demise? What would happen if you made the decision to forgo a life-or-death struggle, let go of the rope, and left?

The psychological intervention known as “acceptance and commitment therapy” (sometimes known as “ACT”) is supported by empirical research. The idea behind it is psychological elasticity, which helps us to view our difficulties from this perspective.

What aspect of suffering gives us a choice? How do context and language affect psychological suffering in humans more than any other species?

How Can ACT – Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Reduce Anxiety?

ACT practitioners contend that language, despite its value, can cause us to feel unhappy due to the way our minds interpret it. This is based on relational frame theory (RFT), which explains how people are able to link objects in both directions.

We are aware that a dog is an animal. We also associate the word “dog” with pleasant or bad images in our imaginations based on our encounters with dogs, depending on those experiences. For instance, if a dog bit me once, I might now fear dogs. I could picture that event when I read the word “dog,” in my head. As a result, I might feel uncomfortable physically and emotionally.

On the other hand, I could imagine that image in my mind if I had a dog that I adored. My emotions would change as I heard or saw the term “dog,” and they would either be happy or relaxing.

In either case, every person’s interpretation of a term is unique. Their meanings ultimately derive from more than simply their straightforward definitions.

How Can ACT Support Us Through Pain?

Practitioners of ACT have the existential belief that suffering in humans is unavoidable. At some point in our life, everyone will feel guilt, uncertainty, worry, anxiety, embarrassment, and/or humiliation.

If we are lucky enough to live long enough, each and every one of us will inevitably lose loved ones. From this vantage point, it becomes clear that trying to escape our suffering is pointless. The assumption that we should be able to discover a means to prevent something that is certain to happen eventually simply serves to magnify it.

The ACT framework is based on the idea that one can develop greater psychological flexibility. The concept of how we might incorporate acceptance practices into our life is shown in the figure below. We can strive to adopt and live out a values-based lifestyle.

The ultimate objective of ACT is to assist clients in developing psychological flexibility so they may live the values-based lifestyle they have chosen, which will take into account all of these aspects. It is a treatment method that is effective for various diseases and is particularly pertinent to anxiety.

ACT therapists frequently employ metaphors to assist clients comprehend some of the principles and strive toward positive change because of its emphasis on language and context. I’ll describe a few of the frequently used metaphors for anxiety in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy below. There are numerous others, and ACT practitioners work with their clients using both exercises and other methods.

Mandarin finger trap

What occurs if you try to escape a Chinese finger trap? Your fingers become frozen! It gets uncomfortable and more challenging to leave. Consider your anxiety to be the trap.

What occurs if you lean toward it? You may not totally eliminate it, but you will increase your area for maneuver. The next time you have anxiety, try to picture this Chinese finger trap. Make an effort to give yourself more room within those difficult emotions.

Quicksand

What comes to mind when you hear the phrase “quicksand”? It might be fear and sinking, in my opinion. Are you aware of what occurs when you attempt to claw your way out of quicksand? That draws you in more rapidly. This ACT metaphor asks you to imagine laying back and nearly trying to float on the quicksand, exposing more of your body to it.

Although you will be more exposed, it will be simpler for you to escape in the end. It’s crucial to keep in mind that while sinking into quicksand can be incredibly unsettling and terrifying, you are not likely to drown there.

An unwelcome party guest

Have you ever attended a party that would have been fantastic but for that one obtrusive visitor? Regardless of the cause, did that person make it difficult for you to enjoy yourself even if there were countless others you could have engaged or concentrated on in its place? Even though a criticism is justified, there are occasions when focusing on it prevents us from taking advantage of all the chances available to us.

You’re encouraged to visualize your fear as that unwelcome guest by using this metaphor. Only acknowledge them, don’t try to get rid of them or leave the party because they are present. Concentrate on all the other fantastic or perhaps even lovely folks you are surrounded by. You might eventually stop being concerned by that unwelcome visitor. In either case, their presence won’t stop you from taking part in and having fun at the party.

Starving tiger – Liken your battle with pain or anxiety to that of a young tiger kept as a pet. It appears innocent at first. It might one day even be able to safeguard you. Consider your anxiety-reducing habits—typically sensory avoidance—as the red steak you feed the tiger cub.

It will get bigger as you feed it more. The tiger will surpass you in size and strength eventually. The more avoidance tactics we employ, the more intense and challenging it is to control our anxiety.

Idea Train – We become so engrossed in our thoughts that we begin to accept them as fact. With the use of language, logic, problem-solving, and conditioning, we have developed specific ways of thinking. Our thoughts are frequently quite didactic. If we have struggled with those thoughts in the past, we may have learnt to disagree and fight them. Yet, we either agree with and believe everything that comes to mind.

We learn to occasionally leap off the train in ACT therapy. We can acknowledge our thoughts and take a break from them, especially if they are hurtful, without necessarily agreeing or disagreeing with them. Consider taking an objective observer’s perspective on your thoughts. About some of them, you might enjoy them, not like them, or perhaps feel ambivalent. Getting off the train will allow you to occasionally distance yourself from them in either case.

The idea that there might actually be a solution to your problems will be encouraged during ACT therapy. Accepting the fact that using avoidance techniques won’t make your misery go away is crucial.

It is important to practice self-compassion and acknowledge how difficult it has been for you to manage your pain. In case avoidance don’t work for you, it’s not your fault. You might eventually learn to feel better if you are willing to practice acceptance and accept the alternative rather than seeking to feel better.

Check out InguireTalk’ certified therapists who can help you with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, commonly known as ACT:

Jonathan Harris

Dr. Simon Cassar

Mary Lavelle