Embracing Your Demons: an Overview of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Also known as Embracing Your Demons, A Non-technical Overview of ACT
Russ Harris's short, free overview of ACT for therapists, with one client's case
At a glance
What it argues
Destructive normality, Language is the root, Control is the problem …
See all 4Key ideas
Third wave, Experiential avoidance, Clean and dirty discomfort …
See all 5Examples from the paper
"I'm having the thought that...", Quicksand and the struggle switch, The karaoke screen …
See all 5Read next
The Happiness Trap, ACT Made Simple, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: The Process and Practice of Mindful Change
See all 3Connections
Russ Harris, Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and 4 others
See all 6
Also on this page: Key facts · Links · Sources · Related pages
- Most Western psychology assumes people are naturally healthy; ACT assumes the normal human mind creates suffering.
- The root is language, which pulls us into fighting our own thoughts and feelings (experiential avoidance).
- So ACT does not aim to reduce symptoms; it aims for a rich, meaningful life.
- It builds psychological flexibility through six core processes.
- Symptom relief often comes anyway, as a by-product.
Why it matters
- A free, ten-minute introduction to ACT for anyone learning therapy, written just before The Happiness Trap.
- The case of Michael shows what each ACT process looks like in a session.
Key facts
- Author
- Russell (Russ) Harris1
- Published
- August 20061
- Journal
- Psychotherapy in Australia, vol. 12, no. 41
- Design
- Narrative overview with one illustrative case (Michael, social anxiety, ten sessions); no new data1
- Main result
- In the case, after ten sessions Michael socialised much more and his anxiety had "diminished considerably", as a by-product1
- Audience
- Therapists; it describes ACT as non-technical1
What it argues
-
Destructive normality1
Against the assumption of "healthy normality": the normal processes of the human mind often create psychological suffering for everyone.
-
Language is the root1
The ability to solve problems with language works outside us, but used on thoughts and feelings it creates extra suffering.
-
Control is the problem1
Emotional control strategies (alcohol, avoidance, rumination) often work short term but cost a lot in the long term.
-
Two processes1
ACT interventions focus on accepting private experiences outside our control, and committing to action toward a valued life.
Key ideas
-
Third wave1
ACT, created by Steve Hayes in 1986, is grouped with DBT, MBCT and MBSR as a mindfulness-based "third wave" behaviour therapy.
-
Experiential avoidance1
Trying to avoid unwanted thoughts and feelings; research links more of it with anxiety, depression, substance abuse and worse PTSD.
-
Clean and dirty discomfort1
Life's natural discomfort is clean; the extra suffering from struggling against it is dirty.
-
Six core principles1
Defusion, acceptance, contact with the present moment, the observing self, values and committed action.
-
Unlike CBT1
None of ACT's defusion techniques involve evaluating or disputing unwanted thoughts.
Examples from the paper
-
"I'm having the thought that..."1
Put this phrase before a self-judgment like "I am stupid" and notice the distance it creates.
-
Quicksand and the struggle switch1
In quicksand, struggling makes you sink; the same applies to fighting difficult feelings.
-
The karaoke screen1
Michael saw "I'm a loser" as words on a karaoke screen with a bouncing ball, and started chuckling at it.
-
Eating one sultana1
A mindfulness exercise in eating slowly, used to show what full engagement in a conversation could feel like.
-
The t-shirt1
Harris's one-line summary of ACT: "Embrace your demons, and follow your heart."
Read next
-
The self-help book this article came out ahead of, for clients and general readers.
-
Harris's full textbook for therapists.
-
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: The Process and Practice of Mindful Change
The founders' original textbook, for the theory in depth.
Connections
Written by
Related
- Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT)TopicAn overview of ACT's model and techniques
- Psychological flexibilityTopicThe six core principles serve psychological flexibility
- Cognitive defusionTopicExplains defusion with exercises
- MindfulnessTopicACT as a mindfulness-based behaviour therapy
- Relational frame theoryTopicNames RFT as ACT's basic research on language
Links
Sources
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