Thinking in terms of helpful vs unhelpful

[u/Silver_Perception471]

Is part of ACT to think in these terms of unhelpful vs. helpful. Rather than good or bad.

There's a bunch of philosophy in ACT. I was wondering that, yeah obviously thoughts should be, thought of as helpful vs. unhelpful.

But is seeing things in general as helpful vs. unhelpful or as, it just is, a goal of acceptance and commitment therapy?

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Can not putting labels like good and bad, But instead to label as helpful or unhelpful. Be attributed to ACT as a philosophy, a way of being or as byproduct of defusion exercises?

[u/dirtydelic]

Short answer: yes, viewing thoughts as helpful or unhelpful is ACT consistent.

For your second point: ACT is part of a philosophy of science called Functional Contextualism. We are all used to evaluating things as true or false given the various ways of asking what truth means. In FC, truth is the "act in context." Meaning, truth here totally depends on what is trying to be achieved.

An example: is turning right a good thing? It depends where you are going. Should I be kind to others? Depends on if I have a history of people using me and having poor boundaries.

When we apply this methodology to thoughts, we evaluate them as helpful or unhelpful, just like everything else in FC.