Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
What Is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy?
A different relationship with your inner life
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, is an evidence-based approach to psychological treatment that takes a different angle than traditional Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Where CBT focuses on identifying and changing unhelpful thoughts, ACT starts from a different premise: that struggling against difficult thoughts and feelings is often what makes them worse, and that a better goal is to change your relationship with them rather than their content.
ACT was developed by psychologist Steven Hayes in the 1980s and has since become one of the most well-researched therapeutic approaches available. It belongs to what is sometimes called the “third wave” of cognitive behavioral therapies, approaches that incorporate mindfulness, values and psychological flexibility alongside the more traditional CBT tools.
The core idea is this: psychological suffering often comes not from having difficult thoughts and feelings, but from the effort we expend trying to eliminate them. Anxiety, sadness, self-doubt and discomfort are part of being human. When we treat them as problems to be solved, we can spend enormous energy in a battle we cannot win, and in doing so, we lose sight of what actually matters to us.
ACT offers a different path. Rather than fighting what is uncomfortable, you learn to observe your thoughts and feelings with some distance, to unhook from them so they have less control over your behavior, and to make choices based on your values rather than your fears. The goal is not to feel better in the moment. It is to build a life that feels meaningful, even when the difficult stuff is present.
How ACT Works and Who It Can Help
What happens in ACT
ACT works through six core psychological processes, though in practice these overlap and inform each other rather than happening in a fixed sequence. The first is defusion: learning to see your thoughts as thoughts rather than facts, to create some distance between you and the running commentary in your mind. The second is acceptance: making room for uncomfortable feelings without trying to suppress, avoid or argue them away. The third is present-moment awareness: bringing your attention to what is actually happening rather than getting lost in past regrets or future worries.
The fourth process is the observing self: developing a sense of yourself as the one who notices thoughts and feelings, rather than being fused with them. The fifth is values clarification: getting clear on what actually matters to you, what kind of person you want to be, what you want your life to stand for. And the sixth is committed action: taking steps toward those values even when anxiety, sadness or discomfort is present.
In sessions, we work on these processes through a combination of discussion, experiential exercises and practical skills you can use between appointments. ACT is active and collaborative. You will leave sessions with something concrete to practice, not just something to think about.
Who ACT can help
I use ACT as a complement to CBT across most of the conditions I treat. It is particularly well-suited to adults navigating anxiety where the struggle to eliminate worry has itself become exhausting, depression where disconnection from meaning and values is part of what keeps the low mood in place, and OCD where learning to observe intrusive thoughts without engaging with them is a core part of recovery. ACT is also especially useful for people who have tried to think their way out of their difficulties and found that the thinking is part of the problem.
Why I Use ACT in My Practice
I am Hafina Allen, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Board-Certified Telemental Health Provider with more than 20 years of experience. I use ACT as a core part of my work alongside Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, because I have found that the two approaches address different things and work better together than either does alone.
CBT is excellent at helping people examine and change the content of their thinking. But some of my clients, particularly those who are analytically minded and already doing a great deal of thinking about their thinking, need something that works at a different level. ACT gives them a way to step back from the loop entirely. Instead of asking “is this thought true?”, it asks “what do I want to do with my life, regardless of what this thought is saying?” That shift can be genuinely freeing.
I am also drawn to ACT’s emphasis on values. Many of the adults I work with have lost touch with what matters to them underneath the anxiety or depression. The work of reconnecting with that, of identifying what they actually care about and taking steps toward it even when it is uncomfortable, is often where the most meaningful change happens.
I work entirely via telehealth with adults across New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, North Dakota and New Hampshire.
You Don’t Have to Win the Battle With Your Own Mind.
ACT offers a different way forward. I offer a free 15-minute consultation, no pressure, no commitment, just a real conversation about what you are dealing with and whether working together feels like the right fit.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Brooklyn, NY
Telehealth · NY · NJ · FL · CT · IL · ND · NH
Brooklyn, NY
26 Court Street, Suite 1001, Brooklyn, NY 11242