ABSTRACT
One of the areas with the biggest potential for a cultural ‘clash’ is between the stance that Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT) takes towards psychological distress, and the approach taken by the much more established medical model. Most people attend to see their doctor with one or more unwanted experiences and hope to go away with some kind of palliative or cure that will remove the experience. Someone with chronic pain will most likely have explored a number of pain relief options prior to approaching an ACT practitioner. The client will probably have sought out psychological help because they or someone caring for them recognised that trying only to relieve the pain, perhaps through medication or surgery, had its limitations.
