Welcome to the For the Public section of this site!
We hope that you will find the information provided here on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) useful in your journey of understanding and/or applying ACT to your life.
What is ACT?
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) has developed as a behavioral intervention to help people learn strategies to live life more in the present, more focused on important values and goals, and less focused on painful thoughts, feelings and experiences. ACT teaches people how to engage with and overcome painful thoughts and feelings through acceptance and mindfulness techniques, to develop self-compassion and flexibility, and to build life-enhancing patterns of behavior. ACT is not about overcoming pain or fighting emotions; it's about embracing life and feeling everything it has to offer. It offers a way out of suffering by choosing to live a life based on what matters most. ACT has developed within a scientific tradition, and there continues to be a thriving research community that examines the basic science underlying ACT and the effectiveness of applying ACT techniques to numerous life problems such as anxiety, depression, PTSD, substance abuse, chronic pain, psychosis, eating problems, and weight management, just to name a few. While the other sections of this site are geared to professionals, you may wish to read more about ACT and Relational Frame Theory RFT (the basic contextual behavioral science of language and cognition on which ACT is based) as you continue interacting with the material. Simply come back and browse through the rest of the site at your leisure!
Resources and Support: ACT for Personal Growth
Many people find that learning from and with others is a great way to enact important life changes. We suggest one or more of the following may best meet your needs:
- Seeking a professional therapist with whom you feel comfortable
- Attending a professionally run therapy group
- Reading self-help books
- Joining the free ACT for the Public email listserv
- Finding others with whom to learn about and discuss applying ACT principles to your life
- ACBS members are encouraged to join the ACT for Professionals email listserv because once on this listserv you can ask virtually any question, or raise virtually any issue, and thousands of ACBS members will read it and you will almost always get thoughtful and helpful responses.
The links at the bottom of the page will walk you through the ways to seek out all of these different types of resources -- most of them from within this website. We have compiled this information in the hopes that it will be useful in guiding you to the right resources for you.
PLEASE NOTE: While research suggests that self-help books and other resources can be helpful for many people, professional psychotherapeutic services are often more interactive and tailored to your individual needs and therefore may be in your best interest. If you are already seeing a therapist, it is best to share with your therapist that you plan to seek additional resources in this community, and to share what you learn in this community so that he or she can better support your growth.