ACT stands for Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and it is part of the behavioral therapies, in particular those that are defined as the "third wave" or "last generation" i.e. those that have been developed in the last years.
It was developed in the United States and is based on Relational Frame Theory (Hayes, Barnes-Holmes, & Roche, 2001) , a basic theory of human behavior analysis. It is a contextualistic theory that has proven useful in modeling higher-order cognitions in a variety of areas.
Research findings in this area suggest that the very things people often use to try to solve problems lead into a trap that creates suffering.
For this reason, the ACT addresses and overturns some of the notions and approaches that are conventionally used and promoted to treat psychological distress.
ACT suggests that psychological distress is important and is not in itself a sign of pathology; pain and suffering are two different states, the first inevitable, the second induced by our strategies to avoid pain; a new focus on what matters (or values), rather than on what we want to avoid, can give a new direction to our lives.
ACT teaches people to change perspective, using three fundamental approaches.
Mindfulness or awareness and contact with the here and now; acceptance or a vital contact with pain and strategies of commitment and behavioral change towards what the person considers to be their own direction (or values).
The aim is to reach the so-called psychological flexibility, which allows us to lead a life that is not without pain, but vital and towards what we really want.
The ACT is supported by scientific evidence from over 60 Randomized Control Trials (RCTs, the golden standard for research), and a meta-analysis published in 2006 is a synthesis of them: meta-analysis, Hayes, Luoma, Bond, Masuda, & Lillis , 2006, Behavior Research and Therapy in January 2006.
It is a treatment that has good empirical support which to date is clear particularly for chronic pain, depression and anxiety.
For further information, please refer to the websites www.act-italia.org orhttp://contextualscience.orgor consulting texts such as “Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Second Edition: The Process and Practice of Mindful Change” (Kelly G. Wilson, Kirk D. Strosahl, Steven C. Hayes)
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SOURCE ACT ITALY
The Therapy is performed by a therapist who has over 20 years of experience in cognitive behavioral therapies and 14 years of experience in ACT. The therapy aims to teach, through an experiential approach, the tools mentioned above. The goal is not the cure or the elimination of the symptom, but the change of perspective and the enrichment of behavioral strategies that allow us to accept the discomfort so that we can live a life based on what the person really wants. The improvement of the symptom can thus somehow become one of the main consequences of the process rather than its goal.
The duration of the treatment is not fixed and is agreed with the person depending on the problem and objectives. However, it is a treatment whose duration and continuation is frequently monitored and re-evaluated with the person, also according to the actual help and usefulness of the same.
This therapy does not have the ambition to "cure" and provides tools that must then be refined, practiced and reinforced not only during the session but also between them and therefore requires the active involvement of the person.
The therapist's experience in this area has shown that this is not an approach for everyone, but it has been sometimes surprisingly effective, especially in the medium to long term in the treatment of depression, anxiety and a range of issues such as chronic pain, OCD just to name a few.