Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a third-wave behavior analytic approach to therapy that focuses on contextual variables, mindfulness, acceptance, behavior change, and values clarity. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy as an intervention has been shown to be effective for treating a wide variety of mental illness and more recently in promoting health-related behaviors. Research has established ACT as an effective treatment for anxiety disorders, depression, substance use, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and posttraumatic disorder to name a few (Landy, Schneider, & Arch, 2015; Najvani, Neshatdoost, Abedi, & Mokarian, 2015; Lee, An, Levin, & Twohig, 2015; Twohig, Vilardage, Levin, & Hayes, 2015; Thopson, …show more content…
Gundy et. al. (2011) conducted a literature review of ACT related to health psychology and reports that ACT is useful for health conditions such as epilepsy, diabetes, obesity, and cancer management. Specific health behaviors such as eating and physical activity can be targeted with ACT treatment as well. Weineland, Arvidsson, Kakoulidis, and Dahl (2012) demonstrated that a brief ACT intervention improved post bariatric surgery patients’ eating disordered behaviors, body dissatisfaction, and acceptance of weight related thoughts and feeling significantly more than those who completed treatment as usual. Similarly, a recent study showed that brief, electronic ACT interventions have an impact on physical activity initiation. Participants in a 12-week pedometer-based walking program were randomly assigned to receive either an ACT DVD with the walking program or the walking program by itself. The DVD provided a two-hour, self-managed ACT intervention that was adapted to physical activity, which included five modules each tailored to the core processes of ACT. Those who received the ACT DVD increased their physical activity level and were more likely to meet program specific goals (Moffitt & Mohr, 2014). These findings suggest the efficacy of ACT for health behavior change across a wide spectrum of physical and mental problems. While ACT research has become more widespread, most of the research is fairly new and there is still more to learn about the effectiveness of ACT for both mental and physical disorders (Ost,
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a third-wave behavior analytic approach to therapy that focuses on contextual variables, mindfulness, acceptance, behavior change, and values clarity. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy as an intervention has been shown to be effective for treating a wide variety of mental illness and more recently in promoting health-related behaviors. Research has established ACT as an effective treatment for anxiety disorders, depression, substance use, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and posttraumatic disorder to name a few (Landy, Schneider, & Arch, 2015; Najvani, Neshatdoost, Abedi, & Mokarian, 2015; Lee, An, Levin, & Twohig, 2015; Twohig, Vilardage, Levin, & Hayes, 2015; Thopson, …show more content…
Gundy et. al. (2011) conducted a literature review of ACT related to health psychology and reports that ACT is useful for health conditions such as epilepsy, diabetes, obesity, and cancer management. Specific health behaviors such as eating and physical activity can be targeted with ACT treatment as well. Weineland, Arvidsson, Kakoulidis, and Dahl (2012) demonstrated that a brief ACT intervention improved post bariatric surgery patients’ eating disordered behaviors, body dissatisfaction, and acceptance of weight related thoughts and feeling significantly more than those who completed treatment as usual. Similarly, a recent study showed that brief, electronic ACT interventions have an impact on physical activity initiation. Participants in a 12-week pedometer-based walking program were randomly assigned to receive either an ACT DVD with the walking program or the walking program by itself. The DVD provided a two-hour, self-managed ACT intervention that was adapted to physical activity, which included five modules each tailored to the core processes of ACT. Those who received the ACT DVD increased their physical activity level and were more likely to meet program specific goals (Moffitt & Mohr, 2014). These findings suggest the efficacy of ACT for health behavior change across a wide spectrum of physical and mental problems. While ACT research has become more widespread, most of the research is fairly new and there is still more to learn about the effectiveness of ACT for both mental and physical disorders (Ost,