Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a form of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) that combines acceptance and mindfulness strategies, together with commitment and behaviour strategies. Helping with psychological problems and unhealthy patterns in a person's personal and working lives. 

How it works

ACT aims to transform your relationship with difficult thoughts and feelings, learning to perceive them as harmless and transient, albeit uncomfortable at times. There is no attempt to try to reduce, change, repress, suppress, avoid or control. Instead, you learn to reduce the impact and influence of your unwanted thoughts and feelings through the use of an eclectic mix of defusion exercises, metaphor, paradox, and mindfulness skills, along with a wide range of experiential exercises and values-guided behavioural interventions. 

ACT demonstrates that it is actually our emotional control strategies that are largely responsible for our ‘problems’. How often do we spend time trying to control how we feel by stopping it, repressing it, getting angry, sad or feeling guilty about our emotions? Over time, by changing the way you react to negative emotions, by accepting them, and by developing self-compassion and flexibility you may find that the emotions themselves start to shift and become easier to manage. Enabling you to help live a more meaningful life while handling the pain and stress that is an inevitable part of life. 

ACT has proven effective with a diverse range of clinical conditions: depression, OCD, workplace stress, chronic pain, the stress of terminal cancer, anxiety, PTSD, anorexia, drug abuse, and even schizophrenia.

What happens in an ACT session?

• Working together we will look into the main areas of your life such as relationships, career and education, leisure, family, spirituality and develop a shared understanding of your values and goals.
• You will develop skills and strategies that help you work towards achieving your goals and living your life in a way that is consistent with your values.
• You will be asked to do homework tasks between sessions
• You will work towards taking effective action to create a rich and meaningful life.
• You will develop resilience so that you can live the life that you want rather than be constrained by the impact of negative thoughts and feelings.

Take your first step call Catherine on 0753 547 7191 or email me at info@catherineayensu-cbt.co.uk

15 mins free consultation