Evaluating a transdiagnostic acceptance and commitment therapy psychoeducation intervention

W7: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a new development within behavioral therapy. Its goal is to promote psychological flexibility. Numerous studies show that suffering results when people attempt to avoid their inner experiences (experiential avoidance). This experiential avoidance often leads to rigid and inflexible behavior that also leads them to compromise their goals and what is imp...

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): A Third Wave Behaviour Therapy

This paper introduces Acceptance and commitment Therapy (ACT) as one of the newer contextualist behaviour therapies. A brief history of the development of ACT is outlined. The concepts of equivalence and laterality and the important relationship between Relational Frame Theory and ACT are then described. The “hexagram” summary of the six core linked processes in ACT is presented and, finally, t...

Evaluating Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: An Analysis of a Recent Critique

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is a newer psychotherapy that has generated much clinical and research interest in recent years. However, the approach has begun to receive strong criticism from proponents of traditional cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). Hofmann and Asmundson (2008) recently compared and contrasted ACT and traditional CBT. They concluded that ACT’s criticisms of tradit...

Running Head: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Emotion regulation in acceptance and commitment therapy.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) offers an alternative to traditional psychotherapies designed to regulate affect. ACT is based on the premise that normal cognitive processes distort and enhance the experience of unpleasant emotion, leading clients to engage in problematic behaviors designed to avoid or attenuate those unpleasant emotions. Such avoidant behavior patterns can hinder and p...