Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

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Summary

Researchers such as Hayes and Strosahl (2005) defines acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) as an empirically based intervention technique from the cognitive behavior model of psychotherapy that employs mindfulness and acceptance methods mixed in various ways. Grounded within the practical concept of functional contextualism and based on the comprehensive idea of language and cognition, ACT is different from the normal or traditional cognitive behavioral therapy. The differences are manifested in the paradigm of instead of teaching people to control their emotions, ACT teaches them to acknowledge, accept and embrace the emotions and or feelings (Hayes, Louma, Bond, Masuda, & Lillis, 2006). Primarily, western traditions functions under the assumption of “healthy normality” which believes that humans are naturally psychologically healthy; however ACT contends that the “so-called” normal human mind is volatile and destructive. The nucleus concept of ACT is that psychological based suffering is caused by experimental averting, cognitive mess, and psychological inflexibility that lead to malfunctions in taking necessary behavioral steps in agreement with core values (Hayes et al, 2006).

There are six core values in ACT model and they are used with the overall objective of improving and increasing psychological flexibility which is the ability to contact the here and now completely as an entirely complete person and to adapt and persist in behavior until the targeted outcome is obtained (Hayes, et al, 2006). The first value is acceptance which involves actively and knowingly embracing the personal and or private occurrences in an individuals’ past without trying to alter them. The next value is cognitive defusion is ...

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...herapy, 44, pp. 415-437.

Harris, R. (August 2006). Embracing your demons: an overview of acceptance and commitment therapy. Psychotherapy in Australia, 12 (4), 2-8.

Hayes, S. C. (2005). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Relational Frame Theory, and the third wave of behavior therapy. Behavior Therapy, 35, 639-665.

Hayes, S. C., Luoma, J., Bond, F., Masuda, A., & Lillis, J. (2006). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Model, processes, and outcomes. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 44(1), 1-25.

Hayes, S. C. & Strosahl, K. D. (2005) (Eds.), A practical guide to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. New York: Springer-Verlag.

Lappalainen, R., Lehtonen, T., Skarp, E., Taubert, E., Ojanen, M., & Hayes, S. C. (2007). The impact of CBT and ACT models using psychology trainee therapists: A preliminary controlled effectiveness trial. Behavior Modification, 31, pp. 488-511.

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