Michael C. May – Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT) Proficiency Course: Master the Core Components & Skills of ACT Across Diagnoses

Outline

ACT Foundations: What You Need to Know

• Context: Why it is Fundamental to ACT
• How to determine the functional purpose of behavior
• What is language: Relational Frame Theory
• The source of psychological suffering
• The ACT model of psychopathology
• Experiential avoidance, cognitive fusion & the toxic cycle
• Psychological Flexibility: What it is & why it’s important
• The Inflexahex diagnostic model
• Limitations of the research & potential risks

THE CORE CONCEPTS OF ACT

Acceptance: Combat Experiential Avoidance

• What is “acceptance” in ACT?
• Experiential avoidance: The “Control Agenda”
• Client control over unwanted thoughts & feelings
• How to confront the control agenda
• Interventions for fostering acceptance
• Acceptance Exercises: The “Unwanted Party Guest;” “Barriers to Writing”

Defusion: Break Down Thoughts as Barriers

• The problem with cognitive fusion
• Weaken unworkable language functions
• Should thoughts always control behavior?
• Build an environment of defusion within session
• Strategies for building defusion skills
• Defusion Exercise: “Having vs Believing” our thoughts

Self-As-Context: Aid Clients in Distancing Themselves from Their Thoughts

• What is self-as-context?
• Self-as-content vs. self-as-context
• Mitigate attachment to the conceptualized self
• Help clients understand self-as-context
• Interventions to foster self-as-context
• Self-As-Context Exercise: The “observer self”

Contact with the Present Moment: Mindfulness Strategies to Reduce Worry about the Past & Future

• Mindfulness: A core feature of all human psychopathology
• What “mindfulness” means in ACT
• The goal of mindfulness practice in ACT
• How to train mindfulness with flexibility
• Overcome obstacles in teaching mindfulness
• Address relaxation-induced panic
• Formal & informal mindfulness interventions
• Contact with the Present Moment Exercise: Mindfulness without Meditation

Values: Guide Clients in Identifying & Clarifying What Matters

• The importance of values in ACT
• How values can be transformative in human behavior
• Values & goals
• How to evoke values from clients
• From instant gratification to pursuit of values
• Values Clarification Exercise: The Eulogy

Committed Action: Establish Values-Consistent Patterns of Behavior

• The relationship between values & committed action
• What’s considered committed action?
• Address persistent inaction, impulsivity or avoidance
• Interventions
  • Exposure-based approaches
  • Behavioral activation strategies
  • Social-skills training interventions
  • Problem-solving barriers to committed action
  • Behavioral homework
• Case Study: Engaging in committed action with depression

ACT in Action: Utilize ACT with Specific Clinical Populations

• PTSD
• Anxiety
• Personality disorders
• Depression