About this item
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a new approach to psychotherapy that rethinks even our most basic assumptions of mental well-being. Starting with the assumption that the normal condition of human existence is suffering and struggle, ACT works by first encouraging individuals to accept their lives as they are in the here and now. This acceptance is an antidote to the problem of avoidance, which ACT views as among the greatest risk factors for unnecessary suffering and poor mental health. The process of ACT includes help for individuals to identify a set of core values, a personal set of objectives that matter to them personally. The therapy then encourages the individual to commit to behavior that furthers these values despite potentially painful emotional obstacles.
About the Author
My goal is a psychology of human functioning that transforms how we live our lives. That passion was not built out of arrogance: it comes from personal pain. As a young professional I spiraled down into panic disorder and at the very lowest point (www.bit.ly/StevesFirstTED) found a way forward by turning toward pain and suffering, so that I could then turn toward meaning and purpose. I immediately saw movement not just in myself, but also in my clients. Over two or three years I roughed out ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) , and did a few outcome studies. I then put outcome studies on hold while, as a psychology professor at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) , my team developed a basic science approach to human language (Relational Frame Theory) , clarified the philosophy of science issues needed to do science in this slippery area (functional contextualism) , and developed the techniques, measures, and theoretical concepts that would support a new behavioral approach, Contextual Behavioral Science. In 1999 the first ACT book appeared, followed by the first RFT book in 2001, and then work really began to take off. We began doing outcome studies in earnest at the turn of the cenury. There are now nearly 2,000 studies on this work (including about 200 randomized controlled trials) and a worldwide association of over 8,000 professionals actively developing it: the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS: www.contextualpsychology.org) . At ACBS you will find list serves for professionals and a free, open enrollment "ACT for the Public" list serve that is designed to help public members work with these concepts. There is also a list of ACT therapists worldwide.
I continue to teach at UNR, and spend my days writing, researching, helping my students, answering emails, hugging my wife, and hanging out with my children (10, 24, 27, and 47) . I spend a lot of time trying to support the ACT and RFT work of others.
You can learn more about my work and join my newsletter here: www.stevenchayes.com
