Values in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: A comparison with four other approaches

Personal values represent an integral component in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), an acceptance-based modern behavioral psychotherapy. Many other psychological approaches have held values to be central to living life. This paper compares and contrasts ACT’s approach to values with four other approaches: client-centered therapy, Motivational Interviewing, positive psychology, and radical behaviorism. The ACT model is described as well as the role of values within that model, and brief clinical examples are provided to illustrate how the ACT approach to values may be used in practice.