Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Overview Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (“ACT”) is a psychologically supported treatment part of the “third wave” of Cognitive and Behavioral therapy. ACT uses mindfulness acceptance and behavioral strategies to aid individuals connecting to and accepting of current experiences, thoughts, feelings and experiences. In essence ACT helps create a long-term and meaningful life. Our pain is inherent and it shouldn't dictate our lives either. It does not need to avoid being painful and away from what truly gives meaning. ACT can be found in Los Angeles, at Better Therapy LA.

What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Los Angeles, including Los Angeles and Santa Monica?

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy combines acceptance mindfulness and commitment to develop psychological flexibility. ACT treatment is that treating problems does not necessarily mean the intention is to eradicate them. Many stressors happen from those who already have mental health problems and who felt that they were in the wrong because of this. If someone is to deal with longstanding disputes they may have to accept that the only way through this would be to realize they might not have the solution in place. ACT Treatment is separating ACT treatment from other kinds of clinical interventions.

While acceptance and commitment therapy is a relatively new psychotherapy, numerous studies and evidence-based research have highlighted the treatment’s efficacy for clients with a variety of issues and mental issues.

ACT, or Acceptance Commitment Therapy, is a mindfulness-based therapy that incorporates Buddhist meditation and more recent behavioral psychotherapy approaches. Rather of attempting to modify negative ideas, feelings, and sensations like CBT does, ACT teaches you to accept and manage them.

People who view the world as a dangerous place may suffer from this mindset. This notion is based on accepting emotions such as fear, stress, and worry, which are an essential aspect of life and help you to be more engaged in what’s going on around you. The negativity can be reduced significantly by embracing these sentiments in order to better communicate and achieve

The objective is to manage your reaction to these emotions in order for you to live a more fulfilling life. According to research, acceptance commitment therapy in Los Angeles has the potential to significantly affect a variety of issues, including anxiety and depression, chronic pain, and even more severe ailments such as schizophrenia.

Acceptance Commitment Therapy

There are six core principles involved in acceptance and commitment therapy in Los Angeles that have been developed to improve psychological flexibility:

  • Cognitive defusion: is the process of reducing your mental “buying into” of useless or harmful ideas, emotions, images, and memories. Because changing the way we think about things may be ineffective, this technique allows you to avoid buying into or interacting with thoughts that might be detrimental to your health.
  • Acceptance: You’ll learn how to make space for your thoughts rather than wasting energy attempting to alter them in this chapter. This idea is also applied to physical feelings and emotions as well as thoughts. Patients can more actively pursue their goals in life if they learn how to tolerate these ideas.
  • Mindfulness: is being aware of your feelings, thoughts, and behaviors in the present moment. When you cultivate mindfulness, your experience becomes more clear so that you can take interest without prejudice. Mindfulness teaches you to see things from a more realistic standpoint while still maintaining an optimistic attitude toward life’s events without causing harm or anxiety.
  • Self-observation: Transcendence enables you to enter an environment where good and bad things happen, but they have no force to do you harm. When we are anxious or experience other unpleasant internal states, it appears as if allowing them to remain is detrimental to us. Unfortunately, this leads to attempting to suppress or avoid these feelings, which makes them worse while also avoiding them at the same time.Recognizing that these distressing events aren’t really harmful to us but are merely one of many internal feelings we have might assist us in taking action and not getting caught up in our emotions.
  • Self-as-context: is a belief system that helps to take yourself out of your thoughts so you can analyze them without getting caught up in them. For instance, if you have a problem with fear, you might be tempted to focus on trying not to panic or worry about something. This makes it impossible for you to exercise any control over the emotions. Instead, self-as-context enables you to step back from your inner thoughts and release them without judgment or attempting to modify them in some way. This method is a more efficient option because rather of focusing on how you feel, you depart from it completely and don’t hold onto these ideas. Also
  • Values: Having a clear sense of who you are implies finding your life’s purpose and pursuing it. Your values, on the other hand, will guide you in achieving success without expecting good events to follow. Everything has its downside; however, by making your principles apparent and acting in accordance with them, you may minimize avoidance and embrace more constructive ways to deal with stress, anxiety, depression, or any other negative internal state.
  • Commitment: You can more effectively commit to your value-based goals. Here, you endeavor to follow your values, even if it’s difficult. When you are able to make a continuous effort toward your value-based objectives, your life will have greater meaning.

When is acceptance and commitment therapy used?

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is a mental health treatment used to deal with those who struggle with an issue for long. Sometimes this stress is borne down on children’s early childhood, for example separation anxiety. Also those affected by extreme physiological discomfort or addiction should benefit from ACT. The goal is to get the patients to understand their circumstances and not to suppress feelings. It is illogical to try to regain a way of knowing that has been present so long that many people don’t recognize the feelings – not the feelings. The only way to help them to understand how much these feelings are just a fact of life rather than anything.

How does Acceptance and Commitment Therapy work?

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy involves the review of negative sentiment and how it will worsen. When reviewing emotional distress a patient can see how their resistance affected the patient negatively. For example a person who has claustrophobia may feel the worst in enclosed/strict spaces like elevators. To protect yourself from your terror you may go into elevators even if you were addicted to drug. You might think that the problem is that you have not tried much to get rid of your bad emotion so that you are not supposed to declare yourself as someone with a severe phobia of elevators. This would be difficult for you because the procedure will make it more difficult to make progress in dealing with this emotion.

Mindfulness

ACT involves mindfulness which requires being present at the moment and accepting a present condition. To keep negative emotions away one must surrender themselves and the emotions must be controlled. Acceptance and commitment therapy is possible but with a therapist, clients learn how to process certain events and emotions and makes necessary behavioral change. Accepting both the bad moments and the good moments, which will be even better, will be easier said than done. If you can give yourself permission not to feel good then you’ll have the capacity and responsibility to take control of your life.

ACT is a great solution for treating anxiety by connecting the individual to the present moment. A family therapist may recommend a CT for individuals with mood disorders and struggle with internal experiences of negative thoughts. This may be the right treatment for those who lack self compassion and struggle with the idea of identity trauma addiction substance-abuse.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy vs ACT vs Dialectical Behavior Therapy

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy are very similar. They both help us to control destructive emotions such as anxiety, depression etc. CBT is more targeted at conscious thought whereas ACT is associated with the subconscious. CBT has been around for a long time and it’s an effective way of treating those who suffer from emotional disorders like PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorders). ACT on the other hand is still relatively unknown and limited but it is gaining popularity because it works better than CBT in many cases.

A licensed clinical social worker or or a licensed clinical psychologist can help three negative feelings to help create a productive and meaningful life . They can help to calm the fears that will kill you inside. You should not ignore them because they are really scary and affect your daily life more than anything else. The following case study shows how ACT has been successfully used to treat those with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorders).

For example, someone suffering from PTSD might be highly protective of themselves and others due to their past trauma experiences. However, this is not productive as it may result in isolation and negative self-image. The therapy helps people understand how they make decisions based on emotions and urges rather than facts about reality. In doing so, clients can learn how to process emotions without being held hostage by them, which will give them the power to live a better life

Chronic Pain and ACT

ACT is like a cognitive behavioral therapy for chronic pain. You can use it to improve your quality of life by taking control of your negative emotions and feelings, such as guilt about things you cannot change.

It’s hard to give ACT a try if you’re not familiar with what it is and how it works, but the more we find out about the brain and how it responds to stress and fear, the clearer sense we have that acceptance and commitment therapy works well for those who suffer from physical conditions related to these factors. If not encouraged enough, imagine someone who suffers from chronic pain due to arthritis or rheumatism? It could be difficult for them because they won’t want to move on with their lives as some days will be too painful for them. That is where ACT comes in.

Somatic Discomfort and ACT

ACT can also be used to deal with the somatic discomfort of individuals who are struggling with PTSD, borderline personality disorder or schizophrenia. It is believed that these people may benefit from taking part in therapy sessions like acceptance therapy because of their tendency to avoid what makes them uncomfortable, which ultimately exacerbates their problems. This treatment focuses on teaching people how to accept physical discomfort rather than act against it; knowing that they cannot control everything that happens to them but they can take control of how they respond to things that happen around them.

How many sessions is acceptance and commitment therapy?

Typically, people who are struggling with physical conditions related to chronic pain, PTSD or schizophrenia need about 12 sessions of acceptance and commitment therapy. It’s important to find a therapist that is qualified in this area before you attend your first session, just so you know exactly what to expect.

Acceptance and commitment therapy may not be the best approach for everyone who is struggling with negative emotions or phobias but it can certainly be beneficial if you’re open minded enough to consider trying something new.

Does acceptance and commitment therapy work?

ACT works for those who are open to learning about how the mind functions and what changes they may need to make in order to live a better life. It’s not recommended for people who suffer from psychosis or schizophrenia though, because it won’t address their main problem which is thought disorganization.

Realistically speaking, anyone with an understanding of depression and anxiety disorder will be able to benefit from ACT if they let themselves become actively involved in therapy sessions. The more you learn about your mind the better chance you have at making positive changes that last, so consider accepting your fear and working together with your therapist to come up with coping strategies that work well for you.

What does acceptance and commitment therapy treat?

ACT can help people suffering from chronic pain, physical discomfort and phobias to come up with better ways of coping that don’t involve avoiding their problems. They can then learn how to focus more on the present rather than what may happen in the future which often exacerbates their pain or fears.

If you want to make a change in your life but aren’t sure where to start, consider attending a few sessions of acceptance and commitment therapy so you know for yourself if it is something worth trying out.

Does acceptance and commitment therapy work for anxiety?

Yes, ACT has been used to treat phobias, anxiety and depression for many years so it’s certainly worth trying if your therapist suggests it. Anxiety is something you can learn to control by becoming curious about what triggers your feelings of anxiety so they don’t take over the way they used to.

If you want to make a change in your life but aren’t sure where to start, consider attending a few sessions of acceptance and commitment therapy so you know for yourself if it is something worth trying out.

Book a FREE 15-Minute consultation
with our Care Coordinator

Fill in the form below to book a FREE 15 min no-obligation consultation session. If you prefer call us at (818) 821-6012

Skip to content