How Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) Helps You Heal

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Updated On:

January 16, 2026

People often respond to challenging circumstances, thoughts, emotions, or interactions by avoidance. They start with certain thoughts, feelings, situations, conversations, or people. At first, avoidance brings relief. Over time, however, avoidance becomes your primary coping mechanism to deal with every unwanted situation.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy was developed in response to managing this problem. Rather than working to reduce distress, ACT teaches individuals to accept and relate to internal experiences so thoughts and emotions no longer dictate their behavior.

In this read, you will understand ACT, its six core processes, benefits, how it is different from CBT, the common mental health conditions it helps treat, and how they are applied in clinical practice.

Stop Letting Avoidance Run the Day With CPG

ACT doesn’t ask you to stop thinking or feeling a certain way. It helps you change what happens after discomfort shows up, so work, relationships, and daily life don’t stay on hold. In-person or online, we are here for you.

What Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) Is

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, commonly known as ACT, pronounced like the word “act,” is a form of psychotherapy that helps individuals accept their thoughts or emotions instead of changing them. ACT helps people take action based on their core values, even in challenging circumstances.

ACT does not aim to eliminate, postpone, or avoid anxiety, sadness, or intrusive thoughts. Instead, it focuses on developing techniques that adjust your behaviors based on values.

In ACT, acceptance means you allow negative thoughts and feelings to be present without judging yourself or struggling against them. Commitment means taking meaningful action according to personal values. Together, they reduce avoidance & distress and help make better decisions.

The Six Core Processes in ACT

ACT describes six core processes that work together to increase psychological flexibility. These processes are not steps, and they are not taught or used in a fixed order. In therapy, emphasis shifts depending on what is showing up in a person’s life, what patterns are keeping them stuck, and what situations they are currently facing.

1. Acceptance

Acceptance refers to the active, voluntary willingness to experience internal events (thoughts, emotions, bodily sensations) without attempts to suppress, control, or escape them.
It directly targets avoidance, a transdiagnostic process that often co-occurs with anxiety disorders, depression, PTSD, substance use, and more.

2. Cognitive Defusion

Cognitive defusion means you detach yourself from the negative thoughts and behavior. A person takes thoughts as a passing-by event without believing or acting on them. Because when they become truthful, they cause fear and avoidance. Defusion lets you control behavior rather than engaging in rumination, reassurance-seeking, or analysis.

3. Contact with the Present Moment

Present moment means you focus only on how you feel in the moment without judgment or planning for the future “what ifs.” A person solely pays attention to current internal and external experiences to notice sensations and emotions.

4. Self-as-Context

You consider yourself a person with a distinct identity who is not defined by feelings, thoughts, experiences, or actions. It reduces over-identification with internal experiences that make people believe they are what their symptoms describe.

5. Values

You set your own personal values/rules that you want to follow and live up to, and they should not be influenced by others. During avoidance and distress moments, these values stand in contrast to action.

6. Committed Action

Committed action helps make meaningful action during negative circumstances that reflect your values. You take incremental, realistic steps in important areas of life while discomfort is present.

Prioritizes Functioning, Not Just Symptoms

Capital Psychiatry Group uses ACT to support daily functioning even when symptoms fluctuate. Learn to focus on what is happening rather than overthinking what-ifs.

The Cycle of Avoidance and Emotional Distress

Many people avoid certain thoughts, emotions, or situations that make them uncomfortable. Initially, this avoidance is like an escape from distress, but over time, it becomes how you respond to any difficult situation.

The cycle often works like this:

Beliefs

Negative beliefs about emotions, such as “If I show my feelings, others will use them against me,” lead people to avoid or suppress actual feelings.

Emotion

This avoidance doesn’t eliminate the emotion but instead exacerbates it.

Consequences

The result is withdrawal, self-criticism, and an increased sense of isolation or frustration. Rather than resolving the core issue, this avoidance reinforces it and prevents the person from moving forward.

The infographic below illustrates this cycle. How beliefs, emotions, and behaviors can keep someone stuck in a loop of avoidance.

What ACT Sessions Look Like in Practice

In Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, the focus of sessions is on understanding patterns of behavior in context rather than trying to “fix” or eliminate thoughts and emotions. ACT therapists guide patients to notice how internal experiences, thoughts, feelings, and urges influence what they do and how avoidance strategies often maintain distress.

Sessions usually involve simple, experiential exercises that help patients observe their internal/mental experiences without getting entangled in them.

For example, a therapist might invite someone to notice a negative thought and analyze what happens next, whether the person avoids the situation or stays present. These exercises are not used as tests or judgments but as opportunities to notice how avoidance shows up in everyday situations.

ACT Work Is Not Just Discussion

Therapists help patients accept internal experiences while also helping them identify actions that align with their values. It means the therapist helps the person figure out what actually matters to them in real life, like relationships, work, or health, and turn those values into concrete steps they can try outside therapy.

Homework usually consists of real-world practice, like noticing thoughts and feelings in daily situations and trying new ways of responding that are aligned with your values.

Sessions Are Collaborative

The therapist and patient review how techniques are practiced outside of the therapy room and refine strategies. Rather than assuming symptoms must change, ACT therapists help clients move forward while internal experiences are still present, using skills and exercises that are flexible and tailored to the individual.

Learn to Respond Differently, Not Feel Differently

ACT doesn’t promise fewer thoughts or emotions. It helps reduce how much those experiences control your decisions and limit your life. Learn how to separate your thoughts and emotions from reality with CPG.

Who Tends to Benefit Most From ACT

ACT is often helpful for people who feel stuck despite efforts to change their behaviors. Clinically, ACT is often effective for individuals who:

Patients with cancer and psychological distress
Avoid situations and decisions to prevent stress
Spend significant time controlling thoughts or emotions
Tried changing thinking, but couldn’t finda change in action
People who want to improve their daily functioning

Common Conditions Treated With ACT

ACT is used to manage and treat symptoms of a wide range of mental disorders or somatic health problems, particularly when avoidance and rigid coping patterns are major issues.

Anxiety disorders
Depression
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Post-traumatic stress
Substance use disorder
Chronic pain
Eating disorders
Work-related stress & burnout

ACT vs. CBT (Clinical Differences)

ACT and CBT share a behavioral foundation, but they differ in what they ask patients to work on during therapy.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)	Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Focus on acceptance and values-based action	Focus on changing negative thoughts
Thoughts are normal mental events, not problems to fix	Thoughts can be distorted and may need correction
Increased engagement in life, despite distress	Reduce symptoms by modifying thought patterns
Distress is allowed to be present	Distress is often targeted for reduction
Focuses on increasing psychological flexibility	Focuses on controlling or eliminating thoughts

Let Decisions Continue Even When Discomfort Is Present

Action is no longer delayed until anxiety, fear, or uncertainty settles.
Learn how to stay calm and make meaningful decisions even in negative circumstances with CPG.

Takeaways

ACT is not designed to eliminate difficult thoughts or emotions. It focuses on helping people continue to act in meaningful ways while negative experiences and circumstances are present. The ACT therapists at Capital Psychiatry Group help people reduce avoidance and engage in work, relationships, and responsibilities without waiting for symptoms to resolve first.

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Clinical Adviser:

David M Bresch, MD

Author:

Abdulrehman Virk