Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Cultivates psychological flexibility by learning to accept difficult thoughts and feelings while committing to values-driven action.
What Is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy?
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT, pronounced as the word "act") is built on a counterintuitive insight: much of our suffering comes not from painful experiences themselves, but from our attempts to avoid, control, or eliminate them. When we fight anxious thoughts, push away sadness, or argue with our inner critic, we often amplify our distress and disconnect from what matters most.
ACT proposes a different approach: instead of trying to change your internal experiences, learn to hold them lightly, make room for them, and redirect your energy toward living a meaningful life guided by your values. The central goal is psychological flexibility, the ability to be present with whatever arises, hold it with openness rather than rigidity, and take effective action even in the presence of difficulty. Backed by hundreds of randomized controlled trials, ACT is effective across anxiety, depression, chronic pain, substance use, and more. At Restored Family Counseling, we find ACT resonates deeply with clients who want more than symptom relief, who want to live with greater purpose and authenticity.
How Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Works
ACT develops psychological flexibility through six interconnected processes: Acceptance (embracing difficult experiences rather than fighting them), Cognitive Defusion (learning to observe thoughts as mental events rather than literal truths), Being Present (connecting with the here and now), Self-as-Context (recognizing a stable sense of self beyond your changing thoughts and feelings), Values (clarifying what truly matters to you), and Committed Action (taking concrete steps toward your values even when it's uncomfortable).
ACT uses vivid metaphors and experiential exercises rather than abstract theory. For example, the "Passengers on the Bus" metaphor imagines difficult thoughts as unruly passengers. They may shout and threaten, but you can keep driving toward your valued destination regardless. Unlike traditional CBT, ACT doesn't ask you to evaluate whether thoughts are rational. Instead, it changes your relationship with thoughts through techniques like prefacing "I'm not good enough" with "I notice I'm having the thought that...", a small shift that creates powerful distance.
Values clarification is a cornerstone: your therapist helps you articulate what truly matters across relationships, work, health, and personal growth. These values become your compass, providing motivation to carry discomfort because the actions themselves are inherently meaningful.
What Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Can Help With
Anxiety disorders and chronic worry
Depression and low mood
Chronic pain and illness management
Stress and burnout
Obsessive-compulsive tendencies
Substance use and addictive behaviors
Grief and loss
Life transitions and identity exploration
Perfectionism and procrastination
Low self-worth and self-criticism
Is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Right for You?
ACT is ideal if you feel stuck in a cycle of struggling with your own thoughts and emotions. If you've tried to think your way out of anxiety or willpower your way past difficult feelings, only to end up back where you started, ACT offers something fundamentally different. Many clients find that the shift from fighting anxiety to making room for it paradoxically reduces its power over their lives.
It's particularly helpful for chronic pain (developing a new relationship with pain while re-engaging with meaningful activities), life transitions (reconnecting with values when familiar landmarks have shifted), and for high-functioning people who feel unfulfilled despite external success. ACT is about more than feeling less bad. It's about building a life that feels genuinely worth living, not by eliminating discomfort, but by connecting with the meaning that makes discomfort worthwhile.
What to Expect in Sessions
Early sessions explore your current situation and gently examine whether your strategies for managing difficult thoughts and feelings have actually been working long-term. This compassionate recognition, that avoidance and suppression often create more problems than they solve, creates an opening for something new.
From there, your therapist introduces ACT's six core processes through discussion, experiential exercises, and metaphors. Sessions tend to be collaborative, interactive, and occasionally playful. You won't spend sessions analyzing your childhood in detail. The focus is on your present-moment experience and future direction. Between sessions, you'll practice brief mindfulness exercises, values-based goals, and defusion techniques.
A typical course of ACT ranges from 8 to 16 sessions. Many clients describe it as a turning point, a shift from constant self-monitoring and internal struggle to openness, acceptance, and values-guided action that feels profoundly freeing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Approaches
Explore other therapeutic modalities that complement Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.
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