Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Encyclopedia - Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, ACT (said as one word, not as individual letters), is based on functional contextualism. ACT is based on mindfulness and Relational Frame Theory (RFT). ACT differs from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) in that ACT concedes that controlling our private events (thoughts, feelings and memories) is not possible. ACT focuses on what we can control: our arms, legs and mouth. ACT teaches us to "just notice", accept and embrace our private events, especially previously unwanted ones. ACT states that language itself can cause human suffering.

The ACT algorithm is: Accept your reactions and be present. Choose a valued direction. Take action.

The FEAR algorithm is: Fusion with your thoughts Evaluation of experience Avoidance of your experience Reason giving for your behavior

ACT is sometimes grouped together with dialectical behavior therapy and mindfulness based cognitive therapy as the "third wave of behavior therapy".

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Acceptance and Commitment Therapy", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki