ABSTRACT
The therapist can reinforce the behaviour whilst progressively shaping skills over time to move from behaviour being under aversive control to broadly being under appetitive control. This stance shifts away from rigidity, whereby avoidance and control are seen as exclusively bad and it avoids giving the message that the behaviours must never be engaged in. Learning normally occurs in a progressive manner in which an old repertoire is gradually extinguished and inhibited, as a new, more successful repertoire is layered over the top. A central theme of Acceptance & Commitment Therapy is helping clients to increase the degree of behavioural control they can exercise and reduce the amount of automatic behaviour under aversive control. As such, there will be times when a client avoids an emotion or controls their thinking, but in a manner that is freely chosen, as opposed to it being an automatic response.
