Committed action act metaphor how to#
Committed action act metaphor series#

The goal with ACT is to move towards a meaningful life, even if that means allowing room for uncomfortable or unpleasant sensations, emotions, thoughts, and urges. Committed action: overt behavior in the service of values.Īt any particular time we can be moving towards something important to us or away from some unwanted thought, feeling, urge or bodily sensation. Values provide motivation, guidance, meaning and abundance. Values: clarifying what is most important, the sort of person you want to be and the things you want to do in your time on this planet.

Perspective taking/observing self: a mindfulness skill involvingcontact with self as an observer to facilitate a healthy distance from fused thinking and a sense of space to experience what is.

Cognitive Defusion: a mindfulness skill of stepping back from thoughts (that we are ‘fused’ with) and observing them for what they are, bits of language, without being caught up in them.

Acceptance: a mindfulness skill of making room for unpleasant feelings, sensations, urges and other private experiences without defense.

getting lost in thoughts or trying to control feelings.

Contact with the present moment: a mindfulness skill about being fully engaged and present in your here and now experience vs.

This is accomplished through six core processes: The goal of ACT is to create psychological flexibility, which includes 1) the ability to be psychologically present (i.e., aware and engaged in your experience), and 2) the ability to direct your behavior to serve meaningful life values. Another way to think of this is that ACT helps people learn to feel better instead of learning to feel better. Just as attempts to avoid future rejection lead to an amplification of the role of rejection in our lives and so on. Likewise, attempts to get rid of or avoid anxiety or anxiety-provoking thoughts create more anxiety. For example, an addictive behavior may serve to “get rid of” loneliness or boredom, but leads to greater struggling. These strategies are referred to as experiential avoidance. Opening up to internal experiences is important because efforts to avoid or control them lead to long-term suffering. To resist a feeling is to have the feeling all the more. (Try it now: don’t think about chocolate cake). Why? Because to not think about something is to think about the very thing you did not want to think about. It simply means instead of struggling to get rid of or reduce thoughts and feelings, they’re accepted. It does not mean resigning yourself to your circumstances or giving in to where pain usually leads you. This is the acceptance skill – bringing an open and willing attitude towards all internal experiences. changing the experiences themselves (i.e., getting “rid of”).

Committed action act metaphor how to#

The goal of therapy is not to eliminate certain parts of one’s experience of life, but rather to learn how to experience life more fully, without as much struggle, and with vitality and commitment.ĪCT is concerned about identifying thoughts, feelings, sensations, and urges that act as obstacles to valued living and then change the function of and our relationship to those experiences vs. Psychological acceptance, mindfulness processes and values based living help clients overcome obstacles to living well. ACT gets its name from its two core messages: accept what is out of your personal control, and commit to action that improves and enriches your life. ACT in a nutshell can be summarized as be present, open up, and do what matters.

What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy?Īcceptance and Commitment Therapy or “ACT” (pronounced as the word “act”, not the letters a-c-t) is a mindfulness-based behavioral therapy that focuses on psychological flexibility and valued engagement in life. To submit an article highlighting a model of therapy in group context, please contact the publications committee chair at.

Committed action act metaphor series#

This article and the series of articles do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of Houston Group Psychotherapy Society. This is the second article in a series to feature different models of therapy and how they can be incorporated into a group context.