“Why do human beings suffer so much? And what can we realistically do about it?”
“Why is it so difficult to be happy?”
“Do you have the feeling that life is meant to be more fulfilling, easier, or more vibrant than it has been lately?”
ACT has profound and comprehensive answers to these questions
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT (“ACT” is pronounced as a single word, not as separate letters) is a new form of Psychotherapy, with solid scientific foundations, and is part of what is defined as the “third wave” of cognitive behavioral therapy (Hayes, 2004).
ACT is based on Relational Frame Theory (RFT): a basic research program on how the human mind functions (Hayes, Barnes-Holmes, and Roche, 2001). This research suggests that many of the tools people use to solve problems lead to a trap that creates suffering.
ACT takes its name from its main message: accept what is outside of personal control and commit to taking action that enriches our life and makes it fully meaningful.
ACT considers some unconventional concepts, according to which pain is a part of reality that cannot be avoided: it is normal, it is important, and it accompanies every person, but one should not identify with it.
Moreover, it is not possible to voluntarily get rid of pain because rejecting reality transforms pain into suffering: often the constant attempt to avoid or deny painful emotions leads people to not accept things as they are, making them suffer even more. Continuing to stubbornly oppose reality, rather than accepting it, causes painful emotions to persist over time and provoke further suffering.
The main goal of ACT is to help us accept the pain that life itself brings, going beyond the “additional suffering” that we create for ourselves and helping us to actively live our lives. One can live an existence dictated by one’s own values, starting now, but to do so, one will have to learn how to get out of one’s mind and into one’s life.
In stark contrast to most Western psychotherapies, ACT does not aim to reduce symptoms, but is based on the consideration that attempting to get rid of them creates even more discomfort.
ACT focuses on questions like “What do you really want from your life?”, proposing as additional objectives:
- Teaching psychological skills to deal with painful thoughts and emotions, so that they have less influence and impact on our lives
- Helping to clarify what is truly important and meaningful, identifying the most important values for us.
Ultimately, what ACT requires is a fundamental change in perspective: a shift in how one’s personal experience is considered.
The methods it employs provide new ways to deal with psychological difficulties and seek to change the essence of psychological problems and the impact they have on life.
The ultimate goal of ACT is to promote the psychological flexibility of the individual. According to the model, psychological flexibility can be achieved (or at least promoted) through interventions on what are considered the six pillars of the ACT model.
The six key processes underlie two macro-areas that, in essence, represent the A and C of ACT. In place of A, we can read “mindfulness and acceptance processes,” which include acceptance, defusion, contact with the present moment, and self as context.
In place of C, we can read “behavioral modification processes and committed action according to values,” which include values, commitment to action, self as context, and contact with the present moment.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is therefore based on three fundamental points:
1 Mindfulness: it is a way of observing one’s own experience that, for centuries, has been practiced in the East through various forms of meditation.
Recent research in Western psychology has proven that practicing mindfulness can have important psychological benefits (Hayes, Follette, & Linehan, 2004). Through these techniques, one learns to look at one’s pain, rather than seeing the world through it; one can understand that there are many other things to do in the present moment, besides trying to regulate one’s psychological contents.
2 Acceptance: accepting does not mean tolerating or agreeing or resigning oneself to anything, it does not mean giving up and admitting defeat, nor gritting one’s teeth and enduring. It means opening up to the present reality: recognizing how it is, exactly in the here and now. It is the complete acceptance of what happens, deep inside yourself, from the tips of your toes to your hair. Without despair or useless passivity. Without undue bitterness, resentment or shame or guilt.
Acceptance means opening up and making room for painful sensations, impulses, emotions, and feelings, evaluating and recognizing that struggle and opposition have an energetic cost. Acceptance in this sense is not resignation, it is not opposition, but it is re-allocation of one’s energies towards what is in our power and is openness towards possible change. The most effective way to make changes in one’s life is to start accepting it completely.
Accepting reality as it is often requires an act of choice. One must make a commitment within oneself to accept reality. The commitment to accept it is not equivalent in itself to the fact of accepting, but rather one must shift the mind towards the path of acceptance and away from that of rejecting reality.
Once the awareness of being able to choose the path of acceptance has matured, the person develops an attitude of willingness, which consists of doing what is necessary in every situation, responding effectively to different situations, acting by listening to the deepest part of oneself. It means developing awareness of a broader perspective that allows one to realize that the painful events that are occurring have a more extensive meaning.
On the contrary, stubbornness consists of refusing to do what is necessary in different situations or remaining idle when one should act. Stubbornness can therefore mean resigning oneself and not acting or, on the contrary, trying to solve every situation by refusing to accept the reality of the moment. Stubbornness is refusing to tolerate the moment, it is insisting on maintaining control, it is attachment to me, me, me… and not what I want.
Adopting an attitude of willingness means committing to accepting reality and responding effectively and appropriately to different situations, rather than stubbornly refusing to face them.
3 Commitment and values-based living: when one is involved in the struggle against psychological problems, one often puts life on hold, believing that one’s pain must decrease before starting to live again. ACT invites you to get out of your mind and into your life by taking committed actions in the direction of your values.
According to the ACT model, what promotes change and psychological well-being is a set of acceptance and commitment skills.
These attitudes, if maintained and experienced over time, lead to psychological flexibility, and therefore to greater well-being.
