What is ACT?: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, explained simply
ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) is an evidence-based psychotherapy that uses mindfulness and behavioral strategies to help us accept difficult emotions rather than avoid them. While encouraging meaningful action guided by our personal values.
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What does the What is ACT? Mini Course cover?
What Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is, how it differs from classic CBT, the six core processes including acceptance, defusion and values, and how ACT skills apply to everyday struggles.
Who is this What is ACT? Mini Course for?
Helpful if you:
🤔 Are curious about ACT or have been recommended it
🥊 Feel you are constantly fighting your thoughts and feelings
🧭 Want to act on what matters rather than on how you feel
For therapists:
Assign this course as an introduction to ACT so clients understand the model before working on defusion, values and committed action in session. Fully HIPAA and GDPR compliant.
Dr Harriet Mellotte
Clinical Psychologist & CBT Therapist, BABCP
“Offload is a fantastic resource for both clients and therapists. The world of CBT has been lacking an app which enables the sharing of CBT worksheets and homework tasks between clients and therapists, but Offload completely does this, making the service we offer more professional and the benefits to clients greater.”
Frequently asked questions
What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy?
ACT is an evidence-based form of behavioural therapy built on a simple idea: struggling against difficult thoughts and feelings often amplifies them, while making room for them frees you to act on what matters. It combines mindfulness and acceptance skills with values-based action.
How is ACT different from CBT?
Classic CBT works on changing the content of unhelpful thoughts. ACT changes your relationship with thoughts: you learn to notice them without obeying or fighting them. The two approaches overlap and are often combined; ACT is generally considered part of the wider CBT family.
What conditions can ACT help with?
Research supports ACT for anxiety, depression, stress and chronic pain, among others. Because it targets how you handle inner experience in general, many people also use ACT skills for everyday struggles such as self-criticism, avoidance and feeling stuck.
What will I learn in this mini course?
The course introduces the core ACT skills: acceptance, defusion (unhooking from thoughts), being present, and clarifying the values you want your actions to serve. Each idea comes with short exercises, and Offload has follow-on tools for practising every skill.
Are you a therapist?
Assign this therapy tool and 200+ other interactive tools directly to your clients. Build personalised care plans, customise tools, and review client responses before sessions. HIPAA and GDPR compliant.
Explore Offload for therapistsReferences
Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D., & Wilson, K. G. (1999). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: An Experiential Approach to Behavior Change. Guilford Press. A-Tjak, J. G. L., et al. (2015). A meta-analysis of the efficacy of acceptance and commitment therapy for clinically relevant mental and physical health problems. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 84(1), 30–36. Gloster, A. T., et al. (2017). The empirical status of acceptance and commitment therapy: A review of meta-analyses. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 6(2), 181–192.
