Acceptance and commitment therapy: Pathways for general practitioners

Abstract

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) focuses on helping patients to behave more consistently with their own values and apply mindfulness and acceptance skills to their responses to uncontrollable experiences.
This article presents an overview of ACT, its evidence base and how general practitioners can apply ACT consistent practice in the primary care setting. It describes pathways for general practitioners to develop further expertise in the approach.
Acceptance and commitment therapy has been associated with improved outcomes in patients with chronic pain (comparable to cognitive behaviour therapy) and several studies suggest that it may be useful in patients with mild to moderate depression. Preliminary evidence of benefit has also been shown in the setting of obsessive-compulsive disorder, psychosis, smoking, tinnitus, epilepsy and emotionally disordered eating after gastric band surgery. Acceptance and commitment therapy starts with a discussion about what the patient wants and how they have tried to achieve these aims. Strategies previously used to avoid discomfort are discussed. Psychoeducation in ACT involves metaphors, stories and experiential exercises to demonstrate the uncontrollability and acceptability of much psychological experience. In its final phase, ACT resembles traditional behaviour therapy consisting of goal setting and graduated activity scheduling toward goals directed by values.

Full text

Psychological strategies
Matthew Smout
Acceptance and
commitment therapy
Pathways for general practitioners
Background
Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) focuses on
helping patients to behave more consistently with their own
values and apply mindfulness and acceptance skills to their
responses to uncontrollable experiences.
Objective
This article presents an overview of ACT, its evidence base
and how general practitioners can apply ACT consistent
practice in the primary care setting. It describes pathways
for general practitioners to develop further expertise in the
approach.
Discussion
Acceptance and commitment therapy has been associated
with improved outcomes in patients with chronic pain
(comparable to cognitive behaviour therapy) and several
studies suggest that it may be useful in patients with mild
to moderate depression. Preliminary evidence of benefit
has also been shown in the setting of obsessive-compulsive
disorder, psychosis, smoking, tinnitus, epilepsy and emotionally
disordered eating after gastric band surgery. Acceptance and
commitment therapy starts with a discussion about what the
patient wants and how they have tried to achieve these aims.
Strategies previously used to avoid discomfort are discussed.
Psychoeducation in ACT involves metaphors, stories and
experiential exercises to demonstrate the uncontrollability and
acceptability of much psychological experience. In its final
phase, ACT resembles traditional behaviour therapy consisting
of goal setting and graduated activity scheduling toward goals
directed by values.
Keywords
psychotherapy; cognitive therapy/methods; models, psychology
The acceptance and commitment therapy model (ACT) is
a psychological therapy that teaches mindfulness (‘paying
attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present
moment, nonjudgementally’)1 and acceptance (openness,
willingness to sustain contact) skills for responding
to uncontrollable experiences and thereby increased
enactment of personal values.
The therapy is less concerned with eliminating unwanted thoughts,
emotions and sensations (often seen as the symptoms of psychiatric
disorder) and more concerned with cultivating psychological flexibility:
the ability to change behaviour depending on how useful to the
patient’s life this behaviour is understood to be in the long term. The
ACT model predicts people will be most effective when able to:2
• accept automatic thoughts, sensations and urges
• defuse from thinking (ie. observe thoughts without believing them or
following their directions)
• experience self as context (ie. a continuous, stable sense of self as
an observer of psychological experiences)
• attend to the present moment with self awareness
• clearly articulate values (ie. self chosen, desirable ways of behaving)
• engage in committed action (ie. participating in values-consistent
activities, even when psychologically challenging).
Therapy is aimed at strengthening skills in these six overlapping and
synergistic processes, collectively referred to as the ‘hexaflex’.2
Evidence for efficacy
Acceptance and commitment therapy was designed to be broadly
applicable to a range of life difficulties, including those that do not fit
into neat diagnostic categories. Over 50 randomised controlled trials
have evaluated the benefits of ACT in the setting of various disorders.
In patients with chronic pain it has been shown to be more effective
than placebo or ‘treatment as usual’ and comparable to cognitive
behaviour therapy.3 Several studies suggest that it may be useful in
patients with mild to moderate depression.4 Improvements compared
to placebo or treatment as usual has been shown in the setting of
obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD),5 psychosis,6 smoking,7 tinnitus,8
epilepsy9 and emotionally disordered eating after gastric band
surgery.10 Preliminary evidence of benefit has been seen in nonclinical
settings (eg. worksite stress,11 mental health stigma12 and weight
672
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In its final phase, ACT resembles traditional behavioural therapy
consisting of goal setting and graduated activity scheduling toward
goals directed by values. Values are made clear and vivid, often assisted
with imagery exercises (eg. ‘Imagine witnessing your 80th birthday party
and hearing the tributes of those who knew you. What would you like
them to say?’). As individuals pursue goals, further unwanted emotions
and thoughts emerge as apparent barriers, to which the acceptance and
defusion skills previously introduced are then applied.
While mindfulness meditation (repetitive practice of prolonged
attention to present moment sensation) is not incompatible with ACT,
neither is it seen as essential. Instead, ACT coaches patients to adopt
mindfulness as a quality or attitude with which any planned action
is taken.
Applications and contraindications
Acceptance and commitment therapy may be practised either in a step-
by-step, formalised way, or, more typically, in a flexible, principle driven
way. Acceptance and commitment therapy may be offered as self help,
individually or in group, as a brief intervention for high functioning
patients or intensively over months for patients with chronic, highly
comorbid presentations. Like any psychotherapy, ACT is not suitable
for people whose cognitive functioning is impaired such that they
have difficulty comprehending and generating answers to routine
assessment questions or virtually no substantive memory of previous
conversations. It is not appropriate for individuals who are floridly
psychotic, intoxicated, require emergency medical treatment or have
organic brain injury.
In many trials ACT has been used in conjunction with
pharmacotherapy to good effect.5–7 Individuals should have stable
type and dose of any antidepressant, mood stabiliser or antipsychotic
medication before commencing ACT. The use of quick-acting
benzodiazepines (eg. alprazolam or oxazepam) is incompatible with
the ACT aim to reduce experiential avoidance. If individuals are
using the equivalent of more than 15 mg diazepam, a controlled
benzodiazepine reduction regimen is recommended and progress is
unlikely to be satisfactory unless individuals are willing to work toward
this. Acceptance and commitment therapy may assist with individuals
coping with the discomfort of this reduction, although this has not been
empirically evaluated.
ACT resources for the primary care
clinician
See Resources for useful books, websites and a DVD. Simple strategies
the clinician can employ include:
• assess the individual’s life context, including relationships, work,
recreation and health
• assess ‘workability’. For example, ask: ‘What have you tried to cope
with this problem? How have these strategies worked over time?
Have there been any unintended side effects of these strategies?’
• assess strengths and weaknesses in the six core ACT processes (as
you would in a mental state examination) (Table 1).
loss13). However, there is room for methodological improvement in
the studies undertaken, in particular by employing follow up periods
of longer than 12 months and controlling for concomitant treatments.
Importantly, meta-analyses of its application to a specific disorder,
which are required for the National Health and Medical Research
Council Level I evidence of efficacy, have yet to be conducted.
However, in the opinion of the author, there is sufficient evidence
to warrant the use of ACT as a psychological therapy, particularly if
the patient has not responded satisfactorily to a first line cognitive
behaviour therapy protocol and/or the treating therapist has greater
expertise and experience in ACT than other protocols.
Acceptance and commitment therapy
Acceptance and commitment therapy typically starts with an
assessment of what the patient wants. Emotional control goals
(eg. ‘I just want to be happy’) are reframed as a means to a more
valued life (eg. through asking, ‘And if you felt happier and more
confident what would you be doing more of?’). Assessment includes
identifying all the things the patient has done to try to achieve their
aims and how well these have worked in the short and long term.
Acceptance and commitment therapy therapists particularly seek to
identify patterns of trying to control or avoid uncontrollable internal
experiences, particularly those that disrupt valued living. These
can range from obvious (eg. overt avoidance of difficult situations,
substance use and oversleeping) to subtle (eg. ‘putting on a front’,
‘holding back’ or ‘not really listening’ during conversations).
Motivation to change is ideally born from an appreciation that
strategies used until now to reduce discomfort have come at the
cost of the life one truly wants.
Psychoeducation in ACT consists of metaphors, stories and
experiential exercises to illustrate the uncontrollability and
acceptability of much psychological experience and reveal thoughts
to be less powerful and limiting than usually regarded. For example, a
patient might be taught to interact with a painful self belief (eg. ‘I’m a
loser’) by saying the words out aloud, varying the speed, pitch or tone:
treating the stimulus as a sound rather than responding to it literally.
To illustrate the difference between struggling to suppress such a
thought and accepting it, the thought might be written on a card that
the therapist first pushes toward the patient while the patient pushes
it back, then second, places on the patient’s lap, where the patient
practises allowing contact with the thought. Self awareness can be
developed by having the patient watch their thoughts and move their
finger to indicate when thinking drifts into the past or present, instead
of the ‘here and now’. Reasons a patient gives for being unable to
change (eg. ‘I was abused’) might be framed as chapters in a book
of which there are many, none more important than any other. As
reasons for not changing come to mind throughout the day, the patient
can label each as another chapter (eg. the ‘I never finished school’
story). Acceptance and commitment therapy encourages patients and
therapists to continually develop new and varied strategies to treat
thoughts as harmless and unimportant.
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FOCUS Acceptance and commitment therapy – pathways for general practitioners
Table 1. Proforma for assessing strengths and weaknesses in the six core acceptance
and commitment therapy processes
Acceptance of experiences
–3 –2 –1 0 1 2 3
Extremely
unwilling,
attempts
to avoid all
discomfort
Frequently
tries to change
or eliminate
difficult
experiences
Slightly
unwilling,
avoidant
Conditional
acceptance:
willing to have
discomfort
only under
limited
conditions
Slightly
willing, open
Frequently
willing to
have difficult
experiences
for sake of
values
Extremely
willing, open
to full range of
experience
Defusion from thought
–3 –2 –1 0 1 2 3
Extremely
fused:
thoughts seen
as facts
Frequently
fused: follows
subjective
rules as
imperatives
Slightly fused Defuses with
assistance
but not
independently
and especially
not if
emotionally
aroused
Slightly
defused
Frequently
able to
defuse; only
has difficulty
under extreme
arousal
Extremely
defused:
thoughts are
epiphenomena
and need not
be acted on
Values clarity
–3 –2 –1 0 1 2 3
No concept
of what’s
important to
them
Frequently
sees no ability
to choose,
choosing is
aversive
Slightly
unclear
Can articulate
values with
assistance
but not
independently,
especially
when conflicts
with ‘rules’
Slightly clear Frequently
clear how he/
she wants
to behave;
uncertainty
only under
extreme
emotional
arousal
Extremely
clear vision of
how he/she
wants to live
Mindfulness
–3 –2 –1 0 1 2 3
Constantly
preoccupied
with worries
about the
future or
regret about
the past
Frequently
worries,
ruminates,
intellectualises
or otherwise
disattends
to present
moment
experiences
Slightly
preoccupied
with past or
present, or
overintellectual
explanation
Conditional
mindfulness:
able to attend
to present
moment with
instruction
and not
aroused
Slightly able
to attend
to present
moment on
own
Frequently
able to attend
to present
moment
experience on
own unless
highly aroused
Able to give
full attention
to internal
and external
environment,
in the ‘here
and now’
Committed action
–3 –2 –1 0 1 2 3
Behaviour
impulsive,
self-defeating;
no action
toward long
term values
Frequently
behaviour
dictated
by instant
gratification
or relief; only
enacts values
when ‘feels
like it’
Slightly
uncommitted
Conditional
committed
action: willing
to pursue
values only
under limited
conditions
Slightly
committed
Frequently
behaves
consistent
with values
and only
inconsistent
under high
emotional
arousal
Always
behaves
consistent
with values
in a broad,
diverse range
of ways
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FOCUSAcceptance and commitment therapy – pathways for general practitioners
Take care not to reinforce societal messages that particular emotions or
thoughts need to be eliminated before life enhancing actions can be taken.
Model acceptance of uncomfortable life experiences, including
appropriate self disclosure.
Model defusing from ‘bossy’/’nagging’/’persuasive’ rules (directions
from the mind): again, including appropriate self disclosure (eg. ‘My
mind is always telling me to fit more patients in a day; if I let that
thought dictate my behaviour I would work myself to death, because
there are always more patients to see. Instead, I might thank my mind
for the suggestion and proceed to work with my planned schedule’).
Use defused language when reflecting the patient’s psychological
experience (eg. if the patient says, ‘I’m weak’, reflect, ‘You’re having
the thought ‘I’m weak’’).
Ask patients, ‘What’s the next step you could take to live more like
the way you want to in the area of (relationships, work, recreation,
health)’ and check their progress in that area the next time you see them.
Final word
Acceptance and commitment therapy was designed as a simple, yet
powerful, set of transdiagnostic processes that have broad applicability
to a range of life difficulties including those that do not fit into
neat diagnostic categories. Its emphasis on the normality of human
suffering, highlighting to clinicians the commonality of experience
shared with patients, has created a training and research community
characterised by compassion, supportiveness and creativity that rarely
fails to touch and inspire those who become connected with the work.
Resources
Training
Interested practitioners can attend introductory workshops, now
regularly available in Australia. Acceptance and commitment therapy
workshops emphasise experiential learning through practising
mindfulness and acceptance of personally uncomfortable thoughts
and emotions. Being trained in ACT has been shown to enhance
psychotherapeutic outcomes even when the practitioner employs
other therapeutic approaches,14 so experiencing the principles in
action may help to facilitate ACT consistent interactions with patients,
even without additional technique training. The Australian New
Zealand chapter of the Association for Contextual Behavioural Science
(see below) provides opportunities to further develop skills
Books
• Robinson PJ, Gould DA, Strosahl KD. Real behaviour change in
primary care. Oakland, California: New Harbinger, 2011. This book
has been written for the primary care practitioner and includes ultra
brief (2–5 minute) ACT consistent assessment and intervention
guides
• Good titles for patients include those by Hayes and Smith,15 Forsyth
and Eifert16 and Dahl and colleagues.17 These have demonstrated
efficacy in clinical trials
Websites
• The Association for Contextual Behavioural Science (ACBS): www.
contextualpsychology.org. Values based dues (pay what you think
it’s worth) allow you to access demonstration videos, research
articles, treatment protocols, client handouts and a list of ACT
practitioners
• The Australian branch of ACBS: www.anzact.com and contains
information about Australian and New Zealand conferences
• Russ Harris’ Australian website (www.actmindfully.com) contains
clinician handouts, details of upcoming workshops in Australia and
a list of ACT practitioners in Australia
• An international email list for clinicians and researchers to discuss
new research and clinical practice is available at http://tech.
groups.yahoo.com/group/acceptanceandcommitmenttherapy
DVD
• ACT in action DVD set: provides clinical demonstrations of thera-
peutic strategies targeting each of the six ACT processes. Available
at www.newharbinger.com.
Author
Matthew Smout BSc(Hons), MPsych(Clin), PhD, is Team Leader, Centre
for Treatment of Anxiety and Depression, Adelaide, South Australia
and Convenor, Australian Psychological Society Acceptance and
Commitment Therapy Interest Group. matthew.smout@health.sa.gov.au.
Conflict of interest: none declared.
Table 1. Proforma for assessing strengths and weaknesses in the six core acceptance
and commitment therapy processes (continued)
Self as context
–3 –2 –1 0 1 2 3
Extremely
fused with
self concept:
causal
explanations
about the
self, no self
evaluations
are seen as
facts; there is
no distinction
between ‘self’
and roles,
attributes or
experiences
Frequently
sees
explanations,
stories
about the
self, and self
evaluations as
facts
Behaviour is
constrained by
self knowledge
Slightly fused
with self
concept and
unable to
adopt observer
perspective
Conditional
ability to
experience
self as context:
can do so
only with
instruction
and when not
aroused
Slightly able to
adopt observer
perspective on
own
Frequently
able to adopt
observer
perspective on
own and only
unable under
high arousal
Readily adopts
observer
perspective
on experience
and has
stable sense
of self greater
than and not
reducible
to specific
sensations,
traits
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Harbinger, 2006.
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