What Is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)?

By Farid Alsabeh, LLP

Farid is a Limited Licensed Psychologist in Michigan

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We know that shifting our thoughts and an empathetic presence are powerful sources of healing. But what if another tool to heal ourselves lies in the simple act of acceptance: the open and non-judgmental awareness of our thoughts and feelings?

That is the premise of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), a psychotherapeutic approach developed by psychologist Steven Hayes in the 1980s that is becoming increasingly popular among therapists. According to ACT, acceptance has the potential to undo negative cycles of behavior, facilitate our growth, and become our best selves.

In this article, we’ll learn about how ACT uses the power of acceptance, along with mindfulness and commitment to values, in the pursuit of healing, which allows us to lead more meaningful and fulfilling lives.

Observing our values and behavior

In an ideal situation, there is a consistent and logical relationship between our inner values and our outward behaviors. Our values will lead us to set worthwhile goals, and our actions will help us to achieve those goals. Along the way, we experience a meaningful, engaged, and purpose-driven life.

ACT begins with a simple observation: our behaviors don’t always reflect our values. For example, a person may value being a supportive partner, but they may come across as jaded or uncaring. A student may value academic achievement, but they may routinely procrastinate on their assignments.

These gaps between our values and behaviors can be deeply frustrating, leading us to question and criticize ourselves. Oftentimes, the first step in ACT is to simply recognize and work through these negative attitudes with reassurance from our therapist that we can make positive changes.

Why do we continue to act in ways that don’t reflect our values, despite the negative consequences? According to ACT, there are certain mental blocks causing the discrepancy, discussed in the next section.

FEAR: Blocks in our way

Whenever we find major gaps between our values and our behavior, ACT tells us that certain mental blocks are at play. These blocks can be listed according to the acronym FEAR:

• F: Fusion of thoughts
• E: Evaluation of experience
• A: Avoidance of experience
• R: Reason-giving for behavior

Fusion of thoughts is the automatic, unreflecting acceptance of certain thoughts such that the individual perceives their thoughts as absolute truths. Like fish to water, fusion is being so entangled with our thoughts that we don’t question them, allowing them to define our perception of ourselves, others, and the world.

Evaluation of experience consists of a judgment of our present experience, particularly negative ones. It occurs when we label what we experience in a particular way.

Avoidance of experience consists of steps we take to avoid certain experiences. These can be both mental experiences, like a feeling, as well as external circumstances, like a social event.

Reason-giving consists of rationalizations that are meant to excuse certain behaviors. These are especially prevalent when the behaviors are negative, or involve cognitive dissonance, which occurs when we believe two simultaneous but contradictory ideas.

To see these blocks in action, let’s take the example of social anxiety. A person with social anxiety will take for granted the idea that “something is wrong with me’” (fusion). They may interpret their loneliness as evidence for that belief (evaluation). They will tend to stay away from social settings, in order to spare themselves of the negative feelings there (avoidance). And finally, they may tell themselves that it’s safer to stay indoors after all (reason-giving).

Notice how in this example the blocks feed into each other. The socially anxious person’s avoidance will lead to more loneliness, which will be evaluated as confirmation of their fused thought, “something is wrong with me”. This kind of negative cycle explains why blocks can remain for a long time if they go unchallenged.

Given the pernicious nature of blocks, and the way they interfere with our ability to lead a value-driven life, how can we start to work against them?

The treatment: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

We’ve covered common blocks that interfere with our ability to behave in accordance with our values; in other words, to lead a value-driven life.

ACT gives us six methods for working through these blocks in therapy:

• Acceptance
• Defusion
• Self-as-context
• Contacting the present
• Clarifying values
• Committed action

These methods can be classified as either mindfulness-and-acceptance processes, or commitment-and-behavior processes:

Mindfulness and acceptance processes

These processes help us to become more aware of our moment-to-moment experience.

Acceptance is being open-minded about our present situation, without any judgements or negative evaluations. Not only do we tolerate these experiences, but we intentionally embrace them.

Defusion consists of the detachment from automatic thoughts or beliefs, so that we can more easily examine and challenge them. By defusing from our thoughts, we also become less emotionally reactive to them.

Self-as-context is the view that there is no essential self, but rather, that the self is a dynamic system that relates to any given situation. By developing this view, we can start to engage with our circumstances more flexibly, and without rigid and outdated conceptions of ourselves.

Commitment and behavior processes

These processes involve selecting values and committing to them by agreeing to concrete actions.

Contacting the present is the full participation in the present moment. It involves a more direct experience of the world, without any judgements, and involves describing as opposed to evaluating the world.

Clarifying values involves considering specific areas of life like career, family, and religion, and coming to understand which directions we would like to take. This gives a context and purpose to all the other interventions of ACT.

Committed actions are behaviors that a person has intentionally chosen that lead in the direction of chosen values. They are concrete, and their completion can be taken as definite signs of growth in the therapeutic process.

The ultimate goal: Psychological flexibility

Each of the six processes described above relate to and reinforce each other. For example, contacting the present allows us to become aware of a negative thought, and defusion allows us to be more critical of that thought.

Taken altogether, these processes help a person to increase their psychologically flexibility, which refers to our ability to respond effectively to any given situation, without internal blocks or resistance. When we are able to do so, we are able to act in accordance with our values instead of letting the fear of pain or discomfort interrupt our commitment to these values.

Practicing Acceptance to Improve our Mental Health

We function at our best when our actions reflect our highest values. However, when certain blocks get in the way, we start to act out of fear and avoidance instead. Over time, this can cause wide discrepancies between our values and our behaviors, leading us to become frustrated with ourselves.

Acceptance, as utilized by ACT, allows us to increase our psychological flexibility and respond in more effective ways to our present situation. A therapist who utilizes ACT can help you along this process, leading you to a more meaningful and purpose-driven life.