Introduction to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Patty Bach, Ph.D. Daniel J. Moran, Ph.D., BCBA

Acknowledgments The ACT/ RFT community was very supportive and helpful as I compiled this presentation

The purpose of life is not to be happy, but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you have lived at all. -Leo Rosten

We can try to control the uncontrollable by looking for security and predictability, always hoping to be comfortable and safe. But the truth is that we can never avoid uncertainty and fear. So the central question is not how we avoid uncertainty and fear but how we relate to discomfort. -Pema Chodron

Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it –Bruce Lee

It’s like you’re surfing… The same wave that can be a source of pain, can be a beautiful flowing grace and source of power. It’s all a matter of how you respond to it. -Trey Anastasio

What have I gotten myself into!?

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is …built on empirically based principles …aimed to increase psychological flexibility …using a mindfulness-based approach …with behavior change strategies An Intro to the Intro to ACT

… built on empirically based principles Severe substance abuse Obsessive-compulsive disorder Depression Workplace stress & creativity Panic disorder Social phobia Smoking Chronic pain Trichotillomania Psychosis

…aimed to increase psychological flexibility Psychological flexibility is: contacting the present moment fully as an historical human being, and based on what the situation affords changing or persisting in behavior in the service of chosen values.

…using a mindfulness-based approach Mindfulness is: …much easier learned by experience, but… …it involves: paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally –J–Jon Kabat-Zinn

…with behavior change strategies Behavior change strategies include: Applied Behavior Analysis strategies Contingency management Level systems Traditional Behavior Therapy strategies Exposure Social skills training

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is an empirically based intervention aimed to increase psychological flexibility using a mindfulness-based approach with behavior change strategies

Acceptance Actively contacting psychological experiences directly, fully, and without needless defense while behaving effectively Hayes, Wilson, Gifford, Follette, & Strosahl, 1996, p. 1163

Defusion Looking at thoughts, rather than from thoughts Seeing thoughts as what they are, not as what they say they are

Self as Perspective A sense-of-self that is a consistent perspective from which to observe and accept all changing experiences

Committed Action Overt behavior in the service of values Moving forward in your important chosen directions

Values Chosen life directions Values give life meaning There is a distinction between a value and a goal

Intimate relationships Family relations Social relations Employment Education and training Recreation Spirituality Citizenship Health/physical well-being

Contact with the Present Moment Mindfulness practice is based on the premise that only in the experience of the current event can one accurately perceive what is really happening

These six core processes are interconnected with mutual and facilitative relationships among them…

This then is the overall ACT model

Acceptance and Mindfulness Processes You can chunk them into two larger groups

Commitment and Behavior Change Processes Thus the name “Acceptance and Commitment Therapy” and

Psychological Flexibility (1) Given a distinction between you and the stuff you are struggling with and trying to change (2) are you willing to have that stuff, fully and without defense (3) as it is, and not as what it says it is, (4) AND do what takes you in the direction (5) of your chosen values (6) at this time, in this situation? ACT Question If the answer is “yes,” that is what builds...