Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

The goal of ACT is to create a rich and meaningful life. Unlike CBT, which aims at symptom reduction, ACT aims at enhancing life by learning to accept thoughts and feelings that are out of your control and focusing on the commitments you need to make and actions you need to take to live a deeper and more valued life.

ACT focuses on helping clients understand what matters to them by conducting values clarification exercises upon which life goals can then be set. ACT focuses on the 10 major life domains common to all humans to explore this.

ACT differs from CBT in its approach to dealing with unhelpful thoughts. Rather than challenging thoughts as in CBT, ACT teaches a process known as defusion where clients are taught to mindfully acknowledge their thoughts while learning to not give them power. The by-product of this is that thoughts tend to let go and stop coming around so much.