Thank you so much for writing this up! I’ve also found a lot of benefits from ACT, and it seems like there is quite a strong empirical grounding. I’d also second your recommendation that anyone interested seek out the book A Liberated Mind by Steven Hayes, one of the progenitors of ACT.
In that book, Hayes also mentions some research they did on ACT for goal-related outcomes, like improving school grades and chess performance. I don’t have the links on hand, but I recall that they saw significant effects from relatively minor interventions, so I think it could be especially promising for people looking to deal not only with larger mental illness issues, but also smaller life goals.
I have found more benefit from ACT than traditional CBT myself. As this post mentions, one of the fundamental differences is that CBT tries to change your thinking about difficult things, whereas ACT simply asks you to accept them wholeheartedly. Because of this, I’ve sometimes felt like CBT is kind of just gaslighting yourself, which may in fact be effective, but I suspect that ACT might produce more stable long-term improvements — especially for people who have epistemic issues with the idea of simply reframing difficult truths. I think ACT also has many similarities to mindfulness practice and certain forms of Buddhism, and people who find those ideas interesting and helpful will likely see some benefit from ACT.
Thank you so much for writing this up! I’ve also found a lot of benefits from ACT, and it seems like there is quite a strong empirical grounding. I’d also second your recommendation that anyone interested seek out the book A Liberated Mind by Steven Hayes, one of the progenitors of ACT.
In that book, Hayes also mentions some research they did on ACT for goal-related outcomes, like improving school grades and chess performance. I don’t have the links on hand, but I recall that they saw significant effects from relatively minor interventions, so I think it could be especially promising for people looking to deal not only with larger mental illness issues, but also smaller life goals.
I have found more benefit from ACT than traditional CBT myself. As this post mentions, one of the fundamental differences is that CBT tries to change your thinking about difficult things, whereas ACT simply asks you to accept them wholeheartedly. Because of this, I’ve sometimes felt like CBT is kind of just gaslighting yourself, which may in fact be effective, but I suspect that ACT might produce more stable long-term improvements — especially for people who have epistemic issues with the idea of simply reframing difficult truths. I think ACT also has many similarities to mindfulness practice and certain forms of Buddhism, and people who find those ideas interesting and helpful will likely see some benefit from ACT.