Acceptance And Commitment Therapy

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Running head: ACCEPTANCE AND COMMITMENT THERAPY 1 Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Miranda Buchanan Georgetown College ACCEPTANCE AND COMMITMENT THERAPY 2 Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is a cognitive-behavioral model of psychotherapy. It is based on the Relational Frame Theory, also known as RFT, which focuses on how human language influences cognition. The basic theory of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT for short, is that psychological suffering is mostly caused by the combination of human language, and the control of human behavior by direct experience. Acceptance and Commitment Theory suggests that trying to change difficult feelings and thoughts as a way to cope might be counter productive and that the best way to cope includes new powerful alternatives to the usual difficult thoughts and feelings (Association for Contextual Behavioral Science, 2011). The goal of ACT is to change the relationship people have with their own thoughts and feelings that are often feared or avoided; this is proclaimed to increase psychological flexibility, which is the primary goal of ACT (American Psychological Association, 2006). Steven Hayes and his colleagues first developed ACT in the 1980’s. It was developed by a combination of philosophical and theoretical work, empirical research, and technical development (Lundh, 1999). This trend followed the development of a group of therapies called “third wave” therapies. The main focus of all third wave therapies is to integrate mindfulness and acceptance into their cognitive and behavioral approaches (Nylen, 2007). The basic goal of ACT is to create a rich and meaningful life for the patients. This calls for specific behavior changes that will eventually lead to psychological flexibility (Nylen, 2007). The model of ACT includes six core beliefs that aim for psychological
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