Smith, B. M., Bluett, E. J., Lee, E. B., & Twohig, M. P. (2017). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for OCD. The Wiley Handbook of Obsessive Compulsive Disorders, 596-613.
Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) incorporates principles of behavioral psychology with mindfulness processes, emphasizing language and cognition as key factors in the etiology, maintenance, and treatment of psychopathology. This chapter presents the ACT approach to the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The behavior change techniques used in ACT are based on operant conditioning and are similar to the methods of traditional behavior therapy, such as skills training, goal setting, contingency management, behavioral activation, and exposure. Relational frame theory (RFT) extends this analysis of behavior, showing how verbal processes are always operating on traditional basic processes. In the treatment of OCD, the clinician encourages greater awareness of the current situation (e.g., during an exposure exercise) as well as distressing thoughts and fears that it may produce. Aspects of the model and treatment components, such as acceptance and values, are beginning to make their way into empirically supported treatments for anxiety disorders.