The Society of Clinical Psychology (APA’s Division 12) has recently listed ACT as having modest research support for helping patients cope with psychosis as well as modest research support for those struggling with mixed anxiety disorders and obsessive compulsive disorder. This adds to ACT’s previous listings by Division 12 as having strong research support for the treatment of chronic pain and modest research support for depression.
"There is substantial basic research supporting ACT's fundamental processes, and preliminary evidence regarding their mediational role in ACT outcomes," explains APA's Division 12 in its description of ACT for chronic pain. ACT’s new status reflects the number and quality of randomized control trials (RCTs) which result from countless hours of hard work from a number of research teams. The Division 12 website elaborates that "as in all health care, psychologists are dedicated to verifying the effects of their treatments on the targeted health problems. While many types of studies can help evaluate the benefits and safety of treatments, only RCTs and their logical equivalents afford strong causal inferences."
Congratulations to all the ACT research teams who helped make this happen!
Note: In the original August 2012 posting, ACT was listed as having strong research support for psychosis. As of early September the designation of strong research support in the area of psychosis is under re-review following some complaints. One sticking point seems to be that ACT is not designed to eliminate or reduce symptoms, but rather is designed to help patients cope with them. There is a discussion regarding the applicability of the Chambless standards in that case. There is also discussion of whether modest research support is a more appropriate designation given the nature of the three RCTs so far in this area. Keep tuned in.