How Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) Can Inspire You to Find Comfort in Acceptance

Acceptance and commitment therapy is a therapeutic technique that falls under the CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) umbrella. CBT therapy targets a person’s cognitions (or thoughts), behaviours, and feelings. A cognitive behavioural therapist may use a variety of techniques such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to enhance their practice.

ACT practitioners use a CBT lens to view our clients and their current situation, past experiences, and future goals. As a clinician I share with my clients in early stages of therapy that if we can change one of the following – affect (feelings towards oneself or those close to us), behaviour (actions or lack thereof), and cognitions (thoughts about ourselves and the world around us) – then the other two will follow with persistent work towards change.

ACT can be explained in two parts which may seem obvious by the name, but it can be trickier than that.

Part One is acceptance. “Accept” by definition of Merriam-Webster is to give admittance or approval to. In therapy, the clinician would encourage the client to accept their thoughts, feelings, or behaviours even if they are negative or unwanted. Many of our thoughts or feelings are out of our control and happen unconsciously. What ACT does is allow the client to accept some of the things that they cannot or are unwilling to change, yet it does not always mean that we are “okay” with it. For example, if a person is looking to lose weight and become healthier to eventually improve the sense of self, the clinician would assist the client to accept their negative or even irrational thoughts and beliefs about oneself. Instead of challenging the person to think more positively about themself by pointing out the various strengths or evidence against the client's beliefs, which is the typical CBT way, the clinician would simply ask the client to accept their negative thoughts about oneself as it is not something they can always control. Now comes part two which for many clients is the easier part of this process.

Part Two of ACT is commitment. Commitment is the process in which the clinician asks the client for dedication- to be committed in their actions towards change. This part of the process is the tangible actions steps the client can make in order to reach their goal. So if we continue to go with the person mentioned above the clinician would help the client make a tangible list of actions steps towards their goal of gaining healthier habits and improving the sense of self. This list might include practising one self-care technique weekly, finding an exercise activity they are comfortable with and can practice weekly, eating healthy daily, and replacing negative behaviours, such as undereating to shed weight, to eating smaller meals more frequently. This list of action steps would change per person and could be modified over time.

Simply put, the goal of ACT is to accept that some things we cannot change and might be uncomfortable or painful, yet if we wish to live a happy and fulfilled life, we must become comfortable in the messiness and commit to making change.

More Resources

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What to Talk About in Therapy, by Paul Marlow