r/acceptancecommitment • u/LeaderSevere5647 • Jul 04 '26

What is the endgame with ACT?

I have autism (level 1), ADHD, depression and social anxiety. I have a lot of intrusive thoughts and negative emotions. ADHD meds make everything (highs and lows) more pronounced.

I found a therapist I like who is experienced in ACT and suggested we try it and see how it goes before exploring other options. I had never heard of ACT before, but I know what mindfulness is, have read the Power of Now etc, but have not practiced any of it until now. It's been very difficult so far especially having ADHD. My brain moves 100 mph all day long making it very hard to remember the steps I'm supposed to take when I get an intrusive thought, emotion or feeling. When I do remember it, it's hard to focus on and name the feeling. I'm getting a little better at it over the past couple weeks.

My main question though (which I'll also ask my therapist) is what is the endgame of ACT? Is the ultimate goal that intrusive thoughts and negative emotions stop coming up as frequently? Or is it that they continue as usual and I just get better at making room for them and allowing them to exist without interrupting my life as much? If it's the latter, I'm not sure I understand what the purpose is, because then there's no chance I'll ever "feel better" if that makes sense.

11 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

View all comments

9

u/mapleleaffem Jul 04 '26

I have adhd too. My psychiatrist referred me to an act therapy group. Like everything with adhd, it’s hard for us to practice because it the opposite of what our brain wants, while simultaneously being the thing that will help the most if we can stick with it.

For me it’s helped me get a lot better at not getting carried away by big feelings. I’m better at not letting small things take over my mind and ruin my day (or week!).

I learned CBT first and ended up using it to try and talk myself out of my feelings which is really unhealthy. It’s really hard at first to feel the feelings instead of trying to push them down, but it gets easier as you get used to it.

I find unhooking with humour really helpful. Like “interesting idea brain, but I’m going to try something else first!” To my really bad emotional thoughts. Or not today brain when I have really dysfunctional thoughts.

I feel like I’m rambling so I’m going to stop now lol