ABSTRACT

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT; Hayes, Strosahl, & Wilson, 1999) was designed as an alternative to more traditional brands of psychotherapy (such as conventional cognitivebehaviour therapy: CBT), which place a primary emphasis on decreasing the intensity and frequency of aversive emotions and cognitions. Rather than direct attempts to decrease such levels, ACT focuses on increased behavioural effectiveness, regardless of the presence of unpleasant thoughts and emotions of varying degrees of intensity. In other words, the ACT therapist does not attempt to change the client's distressing thoughts or attenuate their distressing emotionsÐthough, perhaps ironically, psychological distress does typically decrease when ACT is successful. While it might at ®rst appear bizarre to design a psychological treatment that does not attempt to make clients feel better and think differently, there is an arguably sound rationale for doing so.