Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, ACT, in Italian "Acceptance and commitment therapy, is an innovative therapeutic approach that helps us answer these questions.
ACT is a behavioral therapy: it is about acting; it's about action driven by values.
ACT brings us into contact with what really matters to us, that is our values: the deepest desires of our heart compared to who we want to be and what we want to do with our time on this earth.
ACT is about "conscious" action, the action we consciously undertake, open to experience and involved in whatever we are doing.
One of its fundamental messages is: accepting what is beyond our personal control and engaging in actions that enrich one's life.
The purpose of ACT is to help us create a rich, full and meaningful life as we learn to accept the pain and suffering that life inevitably brings to everyone.
ACT teaches psychological skills to deal with painful thoughts and feelings effectively, so that they have less impact and influence (mindfulness ability) and helps clarify what is truly important and meaningful to everyone, i.e. , to clarify personal values and to use them to motivate and guide to set goals and take actions that enrich life.
It is part of the mindfulness-based cognitive-behavioral psychotherapies.
The global interest in this model is supported by a wide range of research. It has proved surprisingly effective in a variety of areas, from depression to anxiety to chronic pain, addiction, trauma, phobias and obsessive behavior.
ACT has proved to be very effective even for less serious problems that millions of us face, such as quitting smoking and reducing stress at work.
This modern behavioral therapy is based on three fundamental points:
- Acceptance interventions, to try an alternative way to manage sufference;
- Awareness and contact with the present moment (Mindfulness) to understand that there are many possibilities to act in the present moment;
- Strategies of commitment to a life based on what is important for everyone, their values.
The purpose of ACT is to help you live a rich, full and meaningful life while effectively addressing the pain we inevitably encounter.
ACT makes all this possible through the use of metaphors, paradoxes, and experiential exercises. Many interventions are playful, creative, and intelligent.