Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is a
contextually based cognitive behavioral treatment. The
ACT model holds that culturally supported attempts to
control and eliminate unpleasant private experiences
(i.e., negative emotions, thoughts, memories) result in
personal suffering, behavior disorders, and a lack of
vital and purposeful living. ACT attempts to teach
clients to accept, rather than control or eliminate, private
experiences that are not amenable to first order
change. Acceptance is accomplished through teaching
the client to see these private experiences as conditioned
verbal responses, rather than literal truth. ACT
emphasizes that the client approach, rather than avoid,
valued life goals, even though pursuing such goals may
stimulate “uncomfortable” private experiences.