ABSTRACT
The widening of behavioural repertoires means building in alternative responses in the presence of stimuli that typically produce a narrow response. New behaviours should have some utility to them, which from an intervention point of view, so that they can behave or persist in behaving in ways that they choose. Promoting psychological flexibility provides the skills for clients to broaden their responses to stimuli that would normally draw a particular functional class of response. A good example would be behaviour such as avoidance in the face of an anxiety-provoking event. Although avoidance comes in many varied shapes and sizes, the underlying function is exactly the same: to remove or ameliorate the perceived threat. An Acceptance & Commitment Therapy practitioner will help the client to evaluate the behaviour in terms of how helpful it was and whether they would choose to select such a behaviour again.
