Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps you stop fighting your thoughts and feelings and start living according to what matters most to you. ACT teaches you to accept difficult emotions, notice thoughts without getting stuck in them, and take clear steps toward your values so you can feel more in control and purposeful.
You will learn simple skills—mindfulness, value clarification, and committed action—that help with anxiety, depression, life transitions, and relationship struggles. Tides Mental Health offers mostly virtual sessions with some in-person options in the Chicago area, so you can get practical help that fits your schedule.
This article will explain how ACT works, show the core practices that build psychological flexibility, and point you to when ACT might help and how to find qualified support.
Understanding Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
ACT helps you notice thoughts and feelings without getting stuck in them. It teaches skills to act toward your values even when you feel anxious, sad, or uncertain.
Core Principles of ACT
ACT focuses on six practical processes that increase psychological flexibility. You learn to accept difficult internal experiences rather than fight them.
You practice mindfulness to stay present and notice thoughts without judgment. This reduces time spent arguing with feelings and increases your choices.
You work on cognitive defusion—techniques that change how you relate to thoughts so they have less control over your actions. You clarify values to guide actions that matter to you.
Then you commit to small, value-driven steps called committed action. ACT also emphasizes self-as-context, helping you see thoughts as events you experience, not fixed truths.
ACT vs. Other Therapeutic Approaches
ACT differs from therapies that try to change or challenge thoughts directly. Instead of disputing a thought’s accuracy, you learn to accept it and act according to your values.
This makes ACT useful when worry or low mood feel persistent and hard to “fix.” It’s action-oriented and practical, with clear exercises you can use between sessions.
Compared with standard CBT, ACT stresses psychological flexibility over symptom reduction alone. You can use ACT for anxiety, depression, relationship stress, life transitions, and for couples or family work.
Tides Mental Health offers ACT in both virtual (60–70%) and Chicago-area in-person (30–40%) sessions tailored to adults, with plans to expand into child and adolescent care.
History and Development
ACT grew from behavior therapy and cognitive behavioral ideas in the 1980s and 1990s. Developers combined mindfulness practices with behavioral science to form a distinct model.
Research expanded through clinical trials and academic studies, showing benefits for conditions like anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive issues, and chronic pain. Clinicians refined ACT into structured exercises and worksheets you can use in sessions and at home.
Today, ACT is a well-studied, evidence-based option that fits brief or ongoing therapy formats.
Core Processes in ACT
These core processes help you notice thoughts, accept feelings, stay present, and observe your sense of self. They guide practical steps you can use in sessions or on your own to act in ways that match your values.
Cognitive Defusion
Cognitive defusion teaches you to change your relationship with thoughts so they have less control over your actions. Instead of trying to push thoughts away, you learn simple tools to notice them as words or images.
For example, say a worry aloud in a silly voice, label it as “a thought,” or repeat a phrase until it loses meaning. These exercises reduce the emotional power thoughts hold.
Defusion helps with anxiety and depressive rumination by creating distance. You still notice thoughts, but you don’t treat them as facts you must obey.
In therapy, your clinician will coach you through brief exercises you can practice during virtual or in-person sessions at Tides Mental Health, then use in daily life.
Acceptance Strategies
Acceptance means allowing uncomfortable feelings and sensations without trying to eliminate them. You practice making room for pain, fear, or sadness while keeping your attention on chosen actions.
That might look like breathing through a panic wave while signing up for a job interview or letting sadness be present while showing up for family time. Therapists teach specific steps: notice physical sensations, name the feeling, and use grounding or breathing to stay connected to the moment.
Acceptance does not mean liking the feeling or giving up on change. It means you stop fighting what won’t change instantly so you can act on values like relationships, work, or parenting.
Contact With the Present Moment
Contact with the present moment trains your attention to what’s happening right now, not what happened in the past or might happen later. You use focused breathing, sensory checks, or short mindfulness practices to anchor awareness.
These practices are short and practical—often one to five minutes—and aim to reduce distraction and reactivity. Being present helps you notice triggers early and choose value-based responses.
For example, when you feel overwhelmed before a conversation, a quick grounding exercise can stop automatic withdrawal and let you engage more clearly. Your clinician will adapt practices to fit virtual sessions or in-person work in the Chicago area and give simple daily exercises to build the habit.
Self-as-Context
Self-as-context helps you see that you are more than the story your mind tells. You learn to observe thoughts and feelings from a broader viewpoint—like noticing weather from inside a house—so those inner experiences don’t define you.
This perspective reduces fusion with labels such as “failure” or “broken.” Practices include perspective-taking exercises and noticing continuity of awareness across changing experiences.
You might reflect on different life roles you hold or practice describing inner events without attaching identity. This shift supports steady action toward your values in relationships, work, and life transitions.
Tides Mental Health uses these techniques to help clients build stable self-observation that works both in virtual and in-person formats.
Psychological Flexibility in ACT
Psychological flexibility helps you notice difficult thoughts and feelings without getting stuck, while also taking actions that match what matters to you. It involves practical skills you can learn and use in daily life to handle anxiety, depression, and big life changes.
Definition and Importance
Psychological flexibility means you can accept unpleasant internal experiences and still choose actions that fit your values. You practice observing thoughts and emotions without fighting them.
This reduces time spent avoiding feelings and increases time spent on meaningful activities. ACT frames flexibility as six linked skills: acceptance, cognitive defusion, present-moment contact, self-as-context, values clarification, and committed action.
Each skill teaches a different way to relate to your inner world so you aren’t controlled by anxiety or negative thinking. For adults facing depression, relationship strain, or life transitions, this shift matters more than trying to eliminate symptoms.
Benefits of Psychological Flexibility
You gain clearer goals and steadier behavior under stress. Research and clinical practice show flexibility leads to better emotional tolerance, less avoidance, and more resilience.
That means fewer days where anxiety or low mood stop you from functioning. Practically, you’ll notice improved decision-making, stronger relationships, and increased ability to pursue work, family, and personal goals.
If you want help building these skills, Tides Mental Health offers ACT-informed care through virtual sessions and in-person therapy in the Chicago area. Sessions commonly address anxiety, depression, couples and family issues, and life transitions, with plans to expand into child and adolescent therapy.
Values and Committed Action
Values guide what matters to you and committed action turns those values into real steps. You will learn how to name your core values and set concrete goals that match them.
This helps you act even when anxiety, depression, or doubt shows up.
Identifying Personal Values
Start by listing roles and relationships that matter: parent, partner, friend, worker, community member. Next, write 3–5 short value statements like “be present with my children” or “show honesty at work.”
Keep each statement specific and active so you can test it in real life. Use questions to refine your list: What kind of person do you want to be? What do you want people to remember about you?
Rank your values to see which matter most now. If you work with a therapist at Tides Mental Health, they can help you clarify values in virtual or Chicago-area in-person sessions.
Setting Meaningful Goals
Turn values into small, measurable steps. For “be present with my children,” a goal might be “read one bedtime story without screens five nights this week.”
Use short timelines and simple measures so you can track progress. Plan for barriers like low mood or busy schedules by naming them and choosing coping moves ahead of time.
Review goals weekly and adjust when life changes. Tides Mental Health can help you create a committed action plan that fits anxiety, depression, life transitions, or relationship work, with mostly virtual options and in-person support in Chicago.
ACT Techniques and Interventions
ACT uses practical skills to help you accept hard feelings, notice thoughts without fighting them, and take actions that match your values. You will learn specific mindfulness practices, behavior changes, and vivid metaphors that make the ideas clear and easy to use in daily life.
Mindfulness Exercises
Mindfulness in ACT trains you to notice present-moment experience without judging it. A common practice asks you to track breath, body sensations, or sounds for 3–5 minutes, gently returning attention when it wanders.
This builds your ability to observe thoughts as events, not commands. You will also practice “urge surfing.” When a worry or craving appears, you map its rise, peak, and fall using a mental scale from 0–10.
This shows you that urges change over time and reduces the need to act on them. Short, daily exercises work best.
Try a single deep-breath check-in before meetings, or a 2-minute body scan after waking. These small habits make it easier to stay grounded during anxiety, depression, or big life changes.
Behavioral Interventions
Behavioral work in ACT focuses on committed actions that fit your values. First, you clarify specific values (for example: being a reliable partner, improving work focus, or building social support).
Then you set one measurable step toward those values, like calling a friend twice a week or practicing a 20-minute work block. Exposure-style exercises help with anxiety.
Instead of avoiding feared situations, you plan brief, repeated approaches while using acceptance skills to tolerate discomfort. This reduces avoidance and restores confidence.
Use tracking tools: a simple checklist, a calendar, or a values-action worksheet. These keep you accountable and show progress.
Tides Mental Health offers virtual sessions to help you build and follow these plans, and in-person support is available around Chicago.
Metaphors in ACT
Metaphors teach ACT ideas in a concrete way you can remember. A common one is the “passengers on the bus.” Your thoughts and feelings are loud passengers, but you are still driving toward chosen destinations.
The metaphor helps you focus on values, not on silencing passengers. Another metaphor is the “tug-of-war with a monster.” Trying to win by pulling only tires you out.
ACT invites you to drop the rope and move toward what matters instead. These images help you stop arguing with thoughts and start acting.
Therapists pair metaphors with short exercises. After a metaphor, you might write down one value-based action and do it the next day.
That links insight to real change and makes the technique usable between sessions.
Applications and Effectiveness
ACT helps you accept hard thoughts, focus on what matters, and take action aligned with your values. It works in brief and longer treatments and adapts to online or in-person care, with many clients using virtual sessions.
ACT for Anxiety Disorders
ACT teaches you to notice anxious thoughts without fighting them. You learn mindfulness skills to observe sensations and thoughts, then choose actions that match your values instead of avoiding situations.
Studies show ACT reduces worry, panic symptoms, and social anxiety. Treatment often uses exposure-like steps where you face feared situations while practicing acceptance.
You can expect skills-based sessions that include exercises, values clarification, and real-world practice. Tides Mental Health offers virtual sessions for anxiety, and in-person care is available in the Chicago area.
ACT for Depression
ACT shifts focus from stopping negative thoughts to increasing meaningful activity. You work to identify values, set small goals, and commit to actions that rebuild routines and purpose.
This approach helps reduce withdrawal, inactivity, and self-criticism by strengthening psychological flexibility. Clinical reviews report moderate improvements in depressive symptoms, especially when therapy targets behavioral activation and values-based goals.
You’ll do behavioral experiments, values work, and acceptance practices. Tides Mental Health provides adult-focused ACT remotely for depression, with in-person options in Chicago.
Use in Chronic Pain and Health Conditions
For chronic pain, ACT does not promise pain elimination. It helps you accept pain sensations and focus on living despite them.
You learn to reduce pain-driven avoidance and increase activities that matter to you. Research supports ACT for improving functioning, mood, and quality of life in long-term pain and some medical conditions.
Treatment integrates pacing, values-based activity planning, and mindfulness of physical sensations. Tides Mental Health offers virtual ACT programs suited to chronic pain and health management, plus in-person sessions in Chicago for hands-on support.
Who Can Benefit from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
ACT can help you when worry, low mood, or stress get in the way of daily life. You learn to notice painful thoughts without letting them control your actions.
This works well if you want to live by your values despite hard feelings. Many adults use ACT for anxiety and depression.
It also helps during big life changes like job shifts, breakups, or caregiving stress. You can learn skills that make choices clearer and more consistent with what matters to you.
Couples and families find ACT useful for improving communication and handling conflict. The approach focuses on shared values and committed actions, not just solving problems.
ACT fits people facing addiction, trauma symptoms, or obsessive thoughts. It teaches acceptance of urges and moves you toward meaningful behavior instead of avoidance.
Therapists tailor exercises to your situation. Tides Mental Health offers ACT mainly for adults.
About 60–70% of sessions are virtual, so you can get care from home. If you prefer in-person care, Tides provides face-to-face sessions in the Chicago area.
You might consider ACT if you want practical tools for living a values-driven life rather than only reducing symptoms. Ask Tides Mental Health about current options and how ACT could fit your goals.
Finding a Qualified ACT Therapist
Look for a licensed mental health professional who lists Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) among their approaches. Ask about their training in ACT, how long they’ve used it, and whether they work mainly with adults.
Check that the therapist treats anxiety, depression, life transitions, or couples and family issues if those are your goals. You can ask for examples of ACT exercises they use and how they tailor sessions to your values and daily life.
Decide whether you want mostly virtual sessions or in-person care. Tides Mental Health offers both and currently provides about 60–70% of sessions virtually and 30–40% in person.
In-person appointments are available in the Chicago area.
Use this short checklist when you contact a therapist:
- License and credentials (e.g., LPC, LCSW, psychologist)
- ACT training and experience
- Areas of focus (anxiety, depression, couples, life transitions)
- Session format (virtual or in-person) and location
- Fees, insurance, and availability
Trust your first impressions. If a therapist explains ACT clearly, shows how it fits your goals, and you feel heard, that is a good sign.
If you don’t click, it’s okay to try another provider until you find one who fits your needs.
Summary and Next Steps
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps you accept hard thoughts and feelings while you act toward what matters.
It teaches skills like mindfulness and values-based action so you can handle anxiety, depression, life changes, and relationship problems more clearly.
If you want to try ACT, consider how you prefer to meet your therapist.
Tides Mental Health offers both virtual and in-person care.
About 60–70% of sessions are virtual, and 30–40% are in person at our Chicago locations.
This mix makes it easier to fit therapy into your routine.
Start by identifying one or two values you want to prioritize.
Then pick small, concrete steps you can take this week to move toward those values.
Practice noticing thoughts without getting stuck in them.
Choose actions that match your goals.
If you need help choosing a clinician, look for a therapist trained in ACT who works with adults and families or provides couples counseling.
Tides Mental Health can match you with a provider who fits your needs and offers flexible virtual or Chicago-based in-person appointments.
Next steps you can take now:
- Write one value and one action you will try this week.
- Book a short consultation with Tides Mental Health to discuss goals and format.
- Practice a two-minute grounding or mindfulness exercise daily.