Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Learn about Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) as a treatment option for borderline personality disorder and complex post-traumatic stress disorder.
What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)?
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people respond to emotions, through being in the present moment. It empowers you to live in line with your core values, rather than being controlled by fear or distress.
ACT helps us work on managing painful thoughts and feelings, using acceptance and mindfulness practices. This treatment type is internationally recognised and well-established for people with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD).
Self-compassion is also important as part of this treatment as it helps address low sense of self-worth and to build life-enhancing patterns of behaviour.
ACT is not about ridding yourself of painful emotion or fighting emotions and/or thoughts. It is about embracing life and being equipped to experience all emotions, thoughts and other internal experiences.
ACT at Spectrum
The ACT program uses a stepped care approach, with three ‘steps’ or components:
- Wise Moments – Four individual pre-treatment or a brief intervention sessions
- Wise Experiences – 20 weekly individual sessions, each lasting 50 minutes
- Wise Choices – Ten group sessions, each lasting two hours
Wise Moments
Wise Moments provides clients with an orientation to the ACT model. Clients also prepare for attending group sessions.
For some clients, this brief intervention may provide a new perspective and treatment gains without the need for further treatment at Spectrum. Once the client and therapist have established that ACT is a good therapeutic fit / working well, clients will have an opportunity to continue in the Wise Experiences and Wise Choices programs.
Wise Experiences
Wise Experiences builds on the introduction to ACT undertaken in Wise Moments, with client and therapist continuing to apply the concepts of ACT to the client’s experience.
Wise Experiences is offered in conjunction with Wise Choices for clients able to engage in a group program in addition to individual therapy. The focus of the group program will be learning the concepts and skills of ACT, with individual work focusing on applying these concepts in the client’s own life.
Wise Choices
Wise Choices is an ACT group program where clients are supported by Spectrum therapists to learn the skills of ACT with other people. There are ten sessions with an ACT topic covered each week. Each session will last for two hours and provides an opportunity to explore and understand key ACT concepts.