There’s something quietly revolutionary about learning to stop fighting yourself.
Most of us spend years trying to think our way out of difficult emotions, to push through anxiety, or to somehow logic ourselves into feeling better.
We operate under this unspoken belief that if we could just get our minds right, everything else would fall into place.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy takes an entirely different approach.
What Makes ACT Different
ACT doesn’t ask you to fix yourself because it doesn’t see you as broken.
This is what it does instead, it recognizes something most other approaches miss: the problem isn’t your thoughts or feelings—it’s the exhausting battle you’re waging against them.
The approach centers on something called psychological flexibility.
Think of it as your capacity to be present with whatever arises while still moving toward what matters to you.
It’s less about controlling your inner world and more about changing your relationship to it.
How ACT Works
ACT works through six interconnected processes, though they’re less like steps and more like skills you develop simultaneously:
- Acceptance means making space for difficult experiences instead of bracing against them
- Cognitive defusion is about observing your thoughts without getting tangled up in them
- Present moment awareness brings you back to what’s actually happening now
- Values clarification helps you identify what genuinely matters to you
- Committed action is taking steps toward those values, even in small ways
- Self-as-context reminds you that you’re larger than any single thought or feeling
The Values Question
This is when everything starts to get intriguing. Rather than pondering, “How do I feel better?” ACT poses the question, “How do I want to live?”
“What’s wrong with me?” becomes “What do I care about?”
This is a notable pivot.
If you understand your core values, be it connection, creativity, justice, or something else, your decisions will also be easier.
You won’t be attempting to feel a certain way, but rather trying to live a certain way.
Values are not achievements. They are directions you navigate towards. You can’t finish being kind or completely authentic. You can only keep choosing those moment by moment.
A Different Kind of Strength
The honesty in human experience shown by ACT is what is refreshing. It doesn’t promise life will get easier or that you’ll stop feeling difficult emotions.
Instead, it offers something more sustainable: that you can learn to carry whatever you’re experiencing while participating fully in your life.
This is not ‘grin and bear it’ or ‘push through it’. This is cultivating a kind of strength that is more flexible than rigid, more responsive than reactive.
Where This Leads
ACT is effective for anxiety, grief, depression, and chronic pain.
More importantly, in addition to the reduction of symptoms, people describe something that is more difficult to measure: the feeling of coming home to oneself.
They stop living their lives in service of avoiding certain feelings.
They get clearer on what they actually want, not what they think they should want. They find ways to be authentic even when it’s uncomfortable.
To Conclude
Living with purpose is about being willing to show up for your life as it actually is while moving toward what you actually care about.
ACT offers a framework for doing exactly that—by helping you be who you are more fully.
The work is ongoing, the results are cumulative, and the invitation is always there: to stop fighting yourself and start living.
Interested in discovering what intentional and purposeful living looks like for you?
At Premier Mental Health, we focus on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, among other evidence-based approaches.
Reach out today for your consultation and begin this meaningful work.
Reach out today for your consultation and begin this meaningful work.
FAQ
What does ACT aim to achieve?
ACT works towards enhancing one’s psychological flexibility—being able to stay present with difficult experiences and take value-driven actions in a more meaningful way.
Who is a qualified candidate for acceptance and commitment therapy?
Almost anyone who feels stalled, faces anxiety or depression, contends with chronic conditions, or wishes to live more truthfully.
It works best for those who are done battling with themselves and are ready to live with purpose.
How does acceptance and commitment therapy assist people in self-care?
ACT gives you the ability to recognize needs without the need for judgment.
It can also help establish boundaries that are aligned with your values, and even when will is lacking, caring actions can be taken—making self-care with low motivation simpler.
What is the main aim of acceptance and commitment therapy?
To be psychologically flexible is the primary aim, which is to be able to be helped and still be present to the experience you are going through while making decisions that align with your authentic self.
No comment