Creating Positive Life Change for Those Suffering from Anxiety and Depression

Robyn D Walser, PhD

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a behavioural intervention that is unique in its theory and is designed to address human suffering in a mindful and compassionate way. ACT also aims to support individuals in engaging commitments to behaviour change that are consistent with personal values and well-being. Applied to anxiety and depression, ACT focuses on helping clients to accept their emotions and accompanying bodily sensations, worrisome thoughts, and other internal struggles that are barriers to healthy living. Additionally, ACT re-orients clients to values-based behaviour that is instantiated by making and keeping commitments and creating ever larger patterns of behavioural change. The core of anxiety and depression is fear of internal experiencing and great effort can be taken to avoid or eliminate the same.

The client's attempts to control internal experience, however often restricts life and can cause a great deal of suffering. ACT seeks to reduce these rigid and inflexible attempts to control by fostering acceptance through mindfulness and defusion techniques. The client is guided to experience internal events without effort in unworkable control. The ultimate goal is psychological and behavioural flexibility in the service of a more workable life. This workshop will focus more specifically on how ACT is applied to anxiety and depression. The six core components of ACT will be explored with respect to these two categories of disorders. Role-play and personal practice with feedback on implementation will be provided. Experiential components that go beyond introductory ACT practice will also be engaged.