Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a therapy that has helped many people overcome depression and anxiety. The ACT model assumes that you can find meaning and purpose where there is pain and suffering.
ACT will help you learn that you can prosper amidst your pain because you are only stuck and not broken. When you face anxiety and stress, you may feel like everything is dim. Still, you will bounce back and view things positively through cognitive defusion and present-moment awareness.
What is the role of ACT?
ACT encourages you to conceptualise yourself, know yourself and observe yourself to move forward and be happier in your life. Its core principles are acceptance, defusion, self as context, present moment awareness, values, and committed action. Let’s expound more on these core principles.
Acceptance of yourself is the first step in ACT because you accept that you have a problem. Denying this will only lead to the problem happening over and over.
After accepting your situation, your therapist will help you change how you view your thoughts so that they stop causing stress or worry. When you let your thoughts and negative feelings cloud your mind, you will be in a state of fusion where everything around you is clouded.
But, as you start taking control of your thoughts, you will start being in a state of defusion where you start to recognise that your thoughts may not be true, are not a command, and are not happening in the physical world. Once you realise these are just pictures inside your head, you will be better positioned to handle stress and anxiety.
ACT also helps with self-as-context, whereby you observe yourself by being aware of what is happening in your surroundings. The exercise will help you note that your feelings and roles change, but you remain the same throughout. On the other hand, present-moment awareness will help you distinguish your thoughts from your surroundings, which is critical to overcoming stress and anxiety.
Lastly, values and committed action will help you know what you want to stand for and take appropriate action toward making these values stand out.
How ACT will benefit you
ACT encourages you to take control of your emotions and see them as pictures inside your head. You will be more aware of your surroundings and enjoy things you didn’t see while emotions clouded you.
You will also experience enhanced well-being because you can distinguish between negative thoughts and real situations without taking pharmaceutical medications. This will help you decrease the dosage and eventually stop using them as your mental health improves.
ACT will also help you understand that negative thoughts will always be part of life and help you see that these thoughts should not weigh you down.
Anxiety and stress can cloud how you view yourself and the world. But when you take action and see a certified therapist, they will help you identify your thoughts and emotions using ACT so that you can take control to live a meaningful life.