ACCEPTANCE AND COMMITMENT THERAPY SPECIALIST
Near you in Midtown, New York, NY
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an evidence-based type of cognitive behavioral therapy that focuses on one general goal: to increase flexibility in how you respond to your inner experiences (i.e. emotions, thoughts, impulses, physical feelings). Our therapists focus on six key processes to reach this goal.
- Acceptance: Acceptance is an alternative to our instinct to avoid thinking about negative-or potentially negative-experiences. It is the active choice to allow unpleasant experiences to exist, without trying to deny or change them. Acceptance is not a goal of ACT, but a method of encouraging action that will lead to positive results.
- Cognitive Defusion: Cognitive Defusion refers to the techniques intended to change how an individual reacts to their thoughts and feelings. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy does not intend to limit our exposure to negative experiences, but rather to face them and come out the other side with a decreased fixation on these experiences.
- Being Present: Being Present can be understood as the practice of being aware of the present moment, without judging the experience. In other words, it involves experiencing what is happening without trying to predict or change the experience.
- Self As Context: Self as Context is the idea that an individual is not simply the sum of their experiences, thoughts, or emotions. The “self as context” process offers the alternative concept that there is a self outside of the current experience. We are not only what happens to us. We are the ones experiencing what happens to us.
- Values: Values in this context are the qualities we choose to work towards in any given moment. We all hold values, consciously or unconsciously, that direct our steps. In ACT, we use tools that help us live our lives in accordance with the values that we hold dear.
- Committed Actions: Finally, ACT aims to help patients commit to actions that will assist in their long-term goals and live a life consistent with their values. Positive behavior changes cannot occur without awareness of how a given behavior affects us.
Acceptance and commitment therapy teaches you how to stop denying, avoiding, and struggling with your inner emotions. You’ll learn how to acknowledge deeper feelings. As you move through talk therapy, you may begin to realize that your feelings can be appropriate responses to certain situations. Once you grasp this way of thinking, you can start accepting the hardships and issues you're experiencing. This acceptance allows you to make the behavioral changes necessary to improve your life.
ACT can help you learn how to cope with: