Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a cognitive behavioral therapy model that incorporates mindfulness- and acceptance-based practices. ACT is designed to decrease suffering by offering people new methods of dealing with the inevitable difficulties in life, rather than attempting to avoid or control painful emotions and experiences. Your therapist will walk with you in the journey of identifying the values that matter most to you, so that you can move towards living a more meaningful life.
The mindfulness- and acceptance-based strategies are the major distinguishers from a traditional CBT model. I would say that whereas traditional CBT aims to target problematic thinking and change it in order to affect emotion and behavior, ACT doesn’t aim to change thoughts, feelings, or bodily sensations. I’ve often heard it put as developing a new relationship with thoughts, feelings, and internal experiences. “At a fundamental level, rather than changing a person’s internal experience, ACT loosens the trip such phenomena can have over the person’s life, freeing them to live intentionally rather than reactively” (Walser & Westrup, 2007, p. 18)
Tara Guarino Fairbanks, MA
Registered Psychological Assistant at BTC
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The following therapists at Burbank Therapeutic Centers practice this style of therapy: Tara Guarino Fairbanks, Jessica Torrecillas and Jeremy Cernero. Please contact us at 818.208.1833 or info@burbanktc.org if you would like to schedule an appointment with on of these therapists.