Practical Workshop ACT - Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Explore the paradox of the present: rising well-being alongside anxiety and suicide, and how ACT, a third-generation therapy, addresses this by examining the mind.

Explore how acceptance and commitment therapy frames the mind through the caveman metaphor, contrasting a worried mind with a carefree one and linking evolution and language.

Discover how language lets humans represent what isn't there, fueling imagination and achievement, while also spawning inner voices and catastrophic thoughts that reveal language as a double-edged sword.

Explore the paradox of language in acceptance and commitment therapy, showing how language fuels both well-being and suffering, and how to master it without becoming trapped.

Using the hare and greyhound metaphor, this lecture explains how the verbal mind makes us imagine threats, triggering adrenaline and fear that feed agoraphobia.

Explore how the mind is an automatic, survival-driven adviser that treats everything as a problem to solve, and learn ACT strategies to acknowledge without being controlled by it.

Explore the hexaflex framework of acceptance and commitment therapy, teaching psychological flexibility through acceptance, cognitive diffusion, present-moment awareness, values, and committed actions to adapt to life changes.

Activate flexibility by anchoring your attention in the present, using mindfulness to calm the roaming mind, and keeping focus on what is here rather than future or past concerns.

Experience a brief mindfulness exercise that uses intention and attention without judgment to observe sensations, emotions, and thoughts as they pass, and gently bring attention back.

Practice informal mindfulness by slowing daily actions, anchoring attention in the present during routines like showering or brushing teeth, noticing mind wandering and returning to slow motion.

Explore the self as context, a metacognitive observer who notices thoughts, feelings, and sensations. Emphasize flexibility in ACT by separating identity from roles and aging to maintain perspective.

Use the chess-board metaphor to show positive and negative thoughts as chips, and recognize you are the board, the context, not the thoughts.

Explore the observer self through a visualization exercise, recalling a moment to contrast past and present thoughts. Use the observer to notice emotions, let them pass, and act with serenity.

This extension on cognitive fusion explains literalization in ACT, showing how treating thoughts as truths and the relationship with inner experiences drive behavior.

Practice transforming frightening thoughts in acceptance and commitment therapy by singing and laughing with the thought to change its function from fear to fun.

Practice writing it down by transforming thoughts, using a computer or mental work to reorder letters, decompose that thought, and manipulate it.

Explore diffusion exercises and the story of not being enough. Discriminate what you can do from what you can't, diffuse thoughts when needed, and decide if a thought warns you.

Learn how acceptance and reducing avoidance operate in ACT through the 95 to 5 rule, distinguish pain from suffering, and transform inner pain into purposeful action.

Practice a brief exercise to show that trying to suppress thoughts about a Yellow Submarine backfires, illustrating the hypertension phenomenon and how acceptance, not control, guides TOC and OCD management.

A polygraph-based exercise shows that trying to tightly control emotions increases anxiety, illustrating that emotions cannot be controlled by sheer effort, as seen in white coat hypertension.

Learn to act in ACT despite discomfort, moving behavior ahead of thoughts and feelings and avoiding experiential avoidance to complete tasks like cleaning the room.

Practice acceptance in this workshop by writing or doodling your difficult thoughts on a sheet, then stop fighting them, give space, and regain presence to live your important moments.

Learn to accept difficult thoughts and emotions by observing them without fighting, distancing from them, and continuing valued actions despite experiential agitation.

Explore the donkey in the well metaphor to practice acceptance and commitment by transforming fear, thoughts, and difficult memories into steps of intentional action.

Explore act values as the compass of life, distinguishing values from objectives, and learn how meaning guides behavior here and now, toward loving, affectionate actions.

Explore six key points of values in ACT, distinguishing values here and now from future goals, and learn to pursue them flexibly with actions that honor self and others.

Clarify what is not a value in ACT and show how values guide action, with pain signaling meaningful goals like caring for your family and a richer social life.

Identify your personal universal values and rate them by importance, clarifying which values matter for your Acceptance and Commitment Therapy work and separating personal values from others' influence.

Evaluate your current commitment to values across life areas with the value dartboard, identify parts closer to the heart, and practice putting those values into action.

Learn how hexaflex engagement through committed actions combats blocking by aligning behavior with values, addressing mental rules and procrastination, and using condiment and flavouring to act.

Translate a chosen value into a specific, time-bound objective using the smart action plan, selecting an area and up to three values from the dartboard of values, aligning with values.

Develop a value-driven action plan for adolescents by clarifying core values, setting tangible goals, and choosing daily actions that connect those values to meaningful life directions.

This workshop extension guides you to identify values, confront experiential avoidance and mental rules that fuel procrastination, and apply antidotes like diffusion, detachment, and willingness to act toward valued goals.

Engage in a guided visualization of your funeral to explore values, legacy, and personal achievements, then reflect on how relationships and actions shape your life's impact.