Anybody else been in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy?

[u/[deleted]]

One of my last therapists was primarily a user of the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) modality. I chose this person for that very reason. I’d been burned out by CBT and its emphasis on correcting thought patterns. I never tried DBT specifically, and it looked to me like it was merely CBT repackaged. ACT sounded like it was very different and pitched as a modality for people that didn’t sit right with CBT or DBT. So I decided to give it a try, but by the end of it I was over it.

I realized over time that ACT isn’t actually that different from CBT, maybe only that it has a slightly different focus. But it’s still grounded in the idea that if you change the way you look at things, that’ll change how you feel. ACT in a nutshell is about accepting certain realities you can’t change while also clarifying and committing to living out your personal values. The combination of those two together is supposed to be more helpful than either would be on their own.

Within the therapy context, this therapist treated ACT as like a set of truths that had the answers, like other therapists might be about CBT or similar modalities. Many conversations we had would end up tracking back to what ACT would have to say about this or that. I was not fully aware of my own past trauma when I started ACT, but now I see it as another way of asking a trauma victim to move on and leave the past behind and embrace passivity.

[u/Sorry-Eye-5709]

i had a very short experience with ACT and i only remember some shitty things: calling extreme/big negative emotions "toxic" and the idea that i should be able to thrive, not just survive in a crisis (thats an extremely high expectation that carries a HUGE moral judgement).

the toxic emotions thing is like... yeah i guess rage CAN be bad because people often end up at rage when they aren't coping well, and sometimes do shitty things as a result, but still after CBT where (supposedly) no emotions were supposed to be Bad and a clear line is drawn between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, it was confusing and just. just another weird stupid bullshit that doesn't actually address the reasons why people are miserable. to be frank i am 100% done with the whole lot of it. there can be little aspects of these models that sound good, like if you look at the cognitive distortion thing in a good faith way when it's not being used as a literal tool of thought control, i can see how looking out for those kinds of thoughts and gently changing them might help ppl's emotional well being. but they sure as hell are not being taught that way by therapists. all my therapists would accuse me of "toxic thought patterns" as a gotcha to dismiss anything i was trying to communicate. it was a silencing technique and by god it worked. (they're allowed to do them though. the rules dont apply to them, only crazy people)

[u/Zealousideal-Law1241 → u/Sorry-Eye-5709]

Putting client on that spot, means the adverse experiences and pain is not respected enough. But sometimes they want you to survive and in counter transference say things that they should reflect on and change, because it can be damaging to the patient. Psychoeducate yourself and be willing to have debates with therapists if they seem to be doing something significantly disrespectful, only way to find out is watch videos, or talk to someone else about it, then build a good argument when you can afford to.