My counselling and psychotherapy practice is influenced heavily by an approach known as ACT. But what is it? ACT stands for Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, commonly spoken simply as the word “act”.
ACT is the process of learning skills to relate to the mind in a new way. ACT is a process-based therapy, where the emphasis of therapeutic sessions is on experiential contact with a set of dynamic psychological processes. These processes are connected to ways of being that lead to pain, struggle, and suffering. But the very same processes can also lead to ways of being that foster connection, presence, and action.
In ACT, we can consider three selves:
-the observing self
-the story of us
-the body – the physical self
ACT teaches you to connect with your observing self, to recognize your self-story, and to take meaningful action in a chosen direction. ACT teaches you to get in touch with your body and the world of experiencing so that you can live the life you want.
In ACT, there are 6 core psychological processes which contribute to “psychological flexibility”, or the skill of choosing from a repertoire of responses in a given situation/context. They are:
-Acceptance
-Defusion
-Present-Moment Awareness/Mindfulness
-Connection to The Observer Self
-Values
-Committed Action
The 6 processes can also be grouped into 3 ways of being: Open (Acceptance & Defusion), Centred/Connected (mindfulness and the observing self), and Engaged (Values and Committed Action). These 3 ways of being can be summarized as psychological flexibility.
ACT is an 80/20 approach. The processes of ACT are not an exhaustive list of all psychological processes that can be observed. However they are a set which are proven to help with relating to your mind and your experiences in a new way, and this shift in perspective is demonstrated to promote change.
ACT therapy places your values at the core of the therapeutic process. ACT helps you to construct and clarify your values so that you may learn to live them out in service of the life you want. This connection to what is most important encourages the discovery of meaning.
ACT rests on decades of clinical and laboratory research that support the success of the approach in helping people to make change in their lives. It is a non-manualized, relational approach to psychotherapy, and is also used in the world of high performance coaching and sport psychology – as recently highlighted in a Sports Illustrated article exploring mental performance coaching.