Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Building psychological flexibility to live a rich, meaningful life aligned with your values
Explore ACT TherapyWhat Is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy?
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT, pronounced as the word "act") is an evidence-based approach that helps you develop psychological flexibility—the ability to stay present with difficult experiences while taking action guided by your values. Rather than trying to eliminate or control uncomfortable thoughts and feelings, ACT teaches you to change your relationship with them.
ACT is grounded in the understanding that trying to avoid or suppress difficult emotions often creates more suffering than the emotions themselves. This struggle against your internal experience—called experiential avoidance—keeps you stuck. ACT offers a different approach: accepting what's outside your control while committing to actions that create a meaningful life.
At Sagebrush Counseling, we integrate ACT with other therapeutic approaches including emotionally focused therapy, attachment-based therapy, and psychodynamic therapy. This integrative approach provides both practical skills and deeper emotional healing.
The Six Core Processes of ACT
Building blocks of psychological flexibility and valued living
Acceptance
Rather than struggling against difficult emotions, thoughts, or sensations, you learn to make space for them. Acceptance doesn't mean resignation—it means willingly experiencing what's present without trying to change or avoid it.
Cognitive Defusion
You learn to observe thoughts rather than being controlled by them. Instead of believing every thought as literal truth, you develop distance from unhelpful thinking patterns. A thought is just a thought—not a command or fact.
Being Present
Mindfulness and present-moment awareness help you engage fully with your current experience rather than getting lost in rumination about the past or worry about the future. Being present allows you to respond flexibly to what's actually happening.
Self as Context
You're not your thoughts, feelings, roles, or stories—you're the awareness that observes all of these. This "observing self" perspective creates space and reduces identification with difficult experiences. You can notice "I'm having the thought that..." rather than "I am..."
Values
Values are chosen life directions—what matters most to you, how you want to be in the world. Unlike goals that can be achieved, values are ongoing qualities you embody through your actions. Clarifying values provides guidance for committed action.
Committed Action
With clarity about your values, you take concrete action toward what matters—even when it's difficult or uncomfortable. This means doing what's important rather than what's easy, building patterns of effective action aligned with your values.
How ACT Differs from Traditional Approaches
A fundamentally different relationship with difficult experiences
Not About Symptom Reduction
Traditional therapies often aim to reduce or eliminate symptoms. ACT takes a different approach: the goal isn't to feel better or have fewer difficult emotions, but to live better—to create a rich, meaningful life even in the presence of pain.
- Success isn't measured by decreased anxiety or sadness
- Focus is on values-based action, not symptom elimination
- You may still experience difficult emotions while living meaningfully
Acceptance Over Control
Rather than trying to control or change thoughts and feelings (which often doesn't work), ACT teaches acceptance and willingness to have whatever shows up internally while controlling what you can—your actions.
- Stop struggling against internal experiences
- Make space for discomfort when taking valued action
- Focus energy on what you can control—behavior
Defusion, Not Disputing
Unlike cognitive therapy that challenges and disputes negative thoughts, ACT teaches you to notice thoughts without getting entangled in them. You don't need to prove thoughts wrong—just recognize them as mental events.
- Observe thoughts rather than debate them
- Create distance from unhelpful thinking
- Reduce the power of thoughts through defusion techniques
Values as the Compass
ACT is fundamentally values-driven. Rather than goals like "reduce anxiety" or "improve relationships," you identify who you want to be and how you want to live, then take action in that direction regardless of how you feel.
- Clarify what truly matters to you
- Take action aligned with values even when it's hard
- Create meaning through values-based living
Integrating ACT with Other Approaches
How ACT enhances and complements other therapeutic modalities
ACT + Emotionally Focused Therapy
ACT's acceptance and mindfulness skills help you stay present with vulnerable emotions in relationships. Combined with EFT's focus on attachment needs, you can express emotions authentically while taking values-based action in your relationship.
Learn more about EFT →ACT + Attachment-Based Therapy
Understanding attachment patterns provides insight into relational fears, while ACT skills help you accept attachment anxiety or avoidance without being controlled by it. You can choose values-based connection even when attachment fears arise.
Learn more about Attachment Therapy →ACT + Psychodynamic Therapy
Psychodynamic work uncovers unconscious patterns and defenses, while ACT provides tools for accepting what emerges without avoidance. This combination offers both depth understanding and practical skills for psychological flexibility.
Learn more about Psychodynamic Therapy →ACT + Parts Work
Parts work helps you understand internal conflicts, while ACT teaches acceptance of all parts without struggle. Rather than trying to eliminate difficult parts, you learn to hold space for all parts while taking values-based action.
Learn more about Parts Work →What ACT Helps With
Issues where acceptance, mindfulness, and values-based action create change
Anxiety & Worry
Learn to have anxiety without letting it control your choices. Take valued action even when anxious, breaking the cycle of avoidance.
Depression
Rather than waiting to feel motivated, take small values-based actions despite low mood. Build meaningful activity that can shift depressive patterns.
Chronic Pain
Accept pain as present while engaging in valued living. Reduce struggle against pain and focus on what you can control—your response to it.
Perfectionism
Notice perfectionist thoughts without being controlled by them. Take action based on values rather than impossible standards or fear of judgment.
Avoidance Patterns
Recognize experiential avoidance—how trying to escape discomfort keeps you stuck. Build willingness to experience discomfort for what matters.
Relationship Issues
Be vulnerable and present in relationships even when it's uncomfortable. Act according to relationship values rather than fear or hurt.
Life Transitions
Accept uncertainty and discomfort of change while clarifying values to guide decisions. Take committed action during ambiguous times.
Trauma
Develop skills to be present with trauma memories without being overwhelmed. Build psychological flexibility around trauma responses.
Obsessive Thinking
Practice defusion from obsessive thoughts rather than engaging with or trying to suppress them. Reduce the power of rumination.
Procrastination
Notice thoughts and feelings that precede avoidance. Take small committed actions toward values even when motivation is absent.
Stress & Burnout
Clarify values to guide boundaries and priorities. Accept stress as present while choosing actions aligned with wellbeing.
Identity & Purpose
Define yourself by chosen values rather than thoughts, feelings, or others' opinions. Create meaning through values-based living.
Who Benefits from ACT
This approach works well for those seeking practical tools and values-based living
Those Stuck in Avoidance
You recognize that trying to avoid discomfort is limiting your life. You're willing to feel difficult emotions if it means living according to your values.
People Seeking Meaning
You want to clarify what matters most and build a life around those values, not just reduce symptoms or feel better temporarily.
Those Overwhelmed by Thoughts
Your mind is constantly analyzing, worrying, or criticizing. You want to create distance from unhelpful thinking patterns without endless debate.
Individuals Wanting Practical Skills
You appreciate concrete techniques and exercises. ACT provides specific tools for acceptance, defusion, mindfulness, and committed action.
Those with Chronic Conditions
You live with ongoing pain, illness, or mental health struggles and want to build a meaningful life despite these challenges, not wait for them to disappear.
People Ready for Action
You're tired of waiting to feel motivated or less anxious. You're willing to take small steps toward what matters even when it's uncomfortable.
Ready to Build Psychological Flexibility?
ACT can help you accept what you can't control while taking action toward a rich, meaningful life aligned with your values.
Contact Sagebrush Counseling