Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) can help with problems such as:

Depression
Anxiety Disorders
Eating Disorders
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Pain
Psychosis

What is ACT?

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is aimed at helping you to take active steps towards building a rich, full and meaningful life, and at the same time, helping you to develop psychological skills to be able to deal with painful thoughts and feelings, in better ways so that they have much less impact and influence on your life.

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What is the theory behind ACT?

A number of studies have looked at the effectiveness of ACT for unusual distressing experiences and for psychosis. These studies have shown that ACT is helpful for reducing distress and the symptoms of distress often experienced by people living with psychosis.

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What are ACT sessions like?

In ACT your therapist will work with you to learn 3 main skills; Defusion, Acceptance and Mindfulness. 

Defusion helps you to distance yourself from, and let go of, unhelpful thoughts, beliefs and memories. Acceptance helps to make room for painful feelings, urges and sensations, and teaches you to allow them to come and go without a struggle. Mindfulness helps you to 'be' in the moment, and asks you to be open to and interested in your experiences.

ACT will help you to clarify what is truly important and meaningful to you by helping you to identify values then use that knowledge to guide, inspire and encourage you to change your life for the better.

Unlike CBT approaches it doesn’t focus on the content of distressing thoughts, but just on accepting them and not letting them get in the way of your goals.

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How long will ACT last?

ACT typically takes 6 – 12 sessions, each 60-90 minutes in length, but this can vary from person to person and some people attend more sessions. You will usually meet with your therapist weekly or fortnightly.

What will you do outside of session?

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