Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Have you ever had a break through which you experience only negative thoughts and/or feelings? You might be assisted from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy abbreviated as ACT. This type of psychotherapy concentrates on the construction of a purposeful and satisfying life. It also focuses on changing your experiences. I discovered that ACT can help one to let go of the need to struggle against one’s thoughts. Instead, it directs attention to what really matters. Now let’s consider how ACT therapy works and why it is effective as the way to build resiliency and heal.
What Is ACT Therapy?
ACT therapy is a form of attentive psychotherapy that supports you in accepting your thoughts and feelings without passing judgment on them and in maintaining present-moment awareness.
It seeks to assist you in overcoming challenging emotions so that you can focus your energies on healing. Not on the past. With the assistance of a qualified professional, you will learn a set of coping skills tailored to your circumstances. These skills can be applied to difficult situations all your life.
How Does ACT Therapy Work?
Accepting life experiences as they are, without analyzing or attempting to alter them, is the main goal of ACT therapy. This ability is cultivated via mindfulness practices that support you in creating a fresh, more understanding connection with challenging situations. By doing this, you can break free from your compulsive negative thoughts and find healing and peace of mind.
Acceptance: Begin with accepting feelings and emotions that could seem uncontrollable and accept the experience with awareness.
Direction: Avoid the temptation to repeat the past. Instead, make a commitment to a constructive strategy that will help you go forward.
Action: Take control and consciously choose to continue in the constructive path you have chosen. Regardless of what life throws at you, remain resilient.
Structure of an ACT Therapy Session:
The following phases are what you can anticipate experiencing throughout an ACT treatment session.
Building rapport: You will sit with a therapist during your initial sessions and discuss some of the difficulties or problems you are dealing with. You’ll chat about your mental health and past attempts at things that could or might not have helped.
Deeper awareness: Your therapist will assist you in identifying topics that you might be reluctant to talk about with others or that you may have negative feelings about. They can assist you in reconciling with the things you cannot alter and processing upsetting memories.
Core values: During ACT sessions, you will also be encouraged to explore your core values and identify what’s important to you. How do you want to identify yourself? What do you want your life to look like?
Actions: Your therapist will assist you in beginning to change once you have determined your recurrent thought patterns and what you would like to prioritize. Accepting what you cannot change while concentrating on altering what you can is the main goal of this stage.
Commitment: Following your ACT experience, your therapist will assist you in integrating ACT into your daily routine. The goal is to create a well-planned strategy that will enable you to carry out the lessons you have learnt over time.
Mindfulness and ACT Therapy
An essential component of ACT therapy is mindfulness. By focusing on your emotions, bodily sensations, and external surroundings moment by minute, mindfulness provides a means of establishing a sense of present-moment awareness.
By cultivating nonjudgmental acceptance of your thoughts and feelings, mindfulness exercises and techniques can enhance your ACT therapy practice. You stay in the now rather than attempting to alter events, reliving the past, or envisioning the future.
You may be interacting with friends and family, at work, or even at home. Simply return your focus to the here and now. Center yourself with your breath and focus on the sounds, smells, and activities that are taking place all around you.
Even though this can seem like a minor adjustment, mindfulness has enormous advantages. Many people discover that mindfulness has given them a sense of purpose, serenity, and contentment.
Numerous mental health issues can benefit from ACT therapy, such as:
Stress regulation
Work stress
Anxiety
Depression
Substance abuse
Consider scheduling a counseling session with Happy Lab if you are having trouble coordinating your actions with your principles or if you are overtaken by emotions. Our group of ACT-certified counsellors are available to help you on your path to acceptance, mindfulness, and significant change. We will customize a strategy to meet your specific needs. This applies whether you are struggling with stress, anxiety, or other mental health issues.
Additionally, we provide a thorough ACT certification course if you want to learn more about Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. For instance, this course can assist you in successfully incorporating ACT principles into your practice if you’re a counselor seeking to advance your career. Alternatively, the course will teach you useful skills that you can use in your everyday life. This applies if you’re just interested in improving your ability to manage your own emotional difficulties.
Make an appointment or learn more about our certification program to start along the path to a more satisfying life! We can work together to help you live in the now and build a better tomorrow.
Source: https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/what-is-acceptance-and-commitment-therapy https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/acceptance-and-commitment-therapy#benefits
