Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T04:00:27.642Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): A Third Wave Behaviour Therapy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 November 2008

Chris Cullen
Chris Cullen*
Affiliation:
Keele University and North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust, UK
*
Reprint requests to Chris Cullen, Clinical Director, Psychological Services, North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust, 3rd Floor, London House, Hide Street, Stoke-on-Trent ST4 1NF, UK. E-mail: chris.cullen@northstaffs.nhs.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper introduces Acceptance and commitment Therapy (ACT) as one of the newer contextualist behaviour therapies. A brief history of the development of ACT is outlined. The concepts of equivalence and laterality and the important relationship between Relational Frame Theory and ACT are then described. The “hexagram” summary of the six core linked processes in ACT is presented and, finally, the research evidence to support the effectiveness of ACT applied to a range of clinical conditions and client groups is summarized.

Keywords

ACTbehaviour therapythird wave therapiescontextual therapies
Type
New and Emerging Areas
Information
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , Volume 36 , Issue 6: Developments in the Theory and Practice of Cognitive and Behavioural Therapies , November 2008 , pp. 667 - 673
Copyright
Copyright © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baer, D. M. (1981). A flight of behaviour analysis. The Behaviour Analyst, 4, 85–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blackledge, J. T. (2003). An introduction to relational frame theory: basics and applications. The Behaviour Analyst Today, 3, 421–433.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Catania, A. C. and Harnad, S. (Eds.) (1988). The Selection of Behaviour. The operant of behaviourism of B.F. Skinner: comments and consequences. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Cullen, C. (1991). Radical behaviourism and its influence on clinical therapies. Behavioural Psychotherapy, 19, 47–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayes, S. C. (1987). A contextual approach to therapeutic change. In Jacobson, N.. (Ed.). Psychotherapists in Clinical Practice: cognitive and behavioural perspectives (pp. 327–387). New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Hayes, S. C. (2004). Acceptance and commitment therapy, relational frame theory, and the third wave of behaviour therapy. Behaviour Therapy, 35, 639–665.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayes, S. C., Luoma, J. B., Bond, F. W., Masuda, A. and Lillis, J. (2006). Acceptance and commitment therapy: model, processes and outcomes. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 44, 1–25.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hayes, S. C., Masuda, A., Bissett, R., Louma, J. and Guerrero, L. F. (2004). DBT, FAP, and ACT: how empirically oriented are the new behaviour therapy technologies? Behaviour Therapy, 35, 35–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayes, S. C. and Melancon, S. M. (1989). Comprehensive distancing, paradox, and the treatment of emotional avoidance. In Ascher, M.. (Ed.), Paradoxical Procedures in Psychotherapy (pp. 184–218). New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Hayes, S. C. and Smith, S. (2005). Get Out of your Mind and into your Life: the new acceptance and commitment therapy. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger.Google Scholar
Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D. and Wilson, K. G. (1999). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: an experiential approach to behaviour change. London: The Guildford Press.Google Scholar
Hoffmann, S. G. and Asmundson, G. J. G. (2008). Acceptance mindfulness-based therapy: new wave or old hat? Clinical Psychology Review, 28, 1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kohlenberg, R. J. and Tsai, M. (1991). Functional Analytic Psychotherapy: creating intense and curative therapeutic relationships. New York: Plenum Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Linehan, M. M. (1993). Cognitive-Behavioural Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder. London: The Guildford Press.Google Scholar
Luoma, J. B., Hayes, S. C. and Walser, R. D. (2007). Learning ACT: an acceptance and commitment therapy skills-training manual for therapists. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger.Google Scholar
Mahoney, M. J. (1974). Cognition and Behaviour Modification. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger.Google Scholar
Michael, J. (1980). Flight from behaviour analysis. The Behaviour Analyst, 3, 1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sidman, M. (1994). Equivalence Relations and Behaviour: a research story. Boston: Authors Cooperative, Inc.Google Scholar
Skinner, B. F. (1936). The verbal summator and a method for the study of latent speech. Journal of Psychology, 2, 71–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skinner, B. F. (1945). The operational analysis of psychological terms. Psychological Review, 42, 270–277; 291–294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skinner, B. F. (1963). Behaviourism at fifty. Science, 140, 951–958.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skinner, B. F. (1972). Cumulative Record (3rd Ed.) New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.Google Scholar
Strosahl, K. D., Hayes, S. C., Wilson, K. G. and Gifford, E. V. (2004). An ACT primer: core therapy processes, intervention strategies, and therapist competencies. InHayes, S. C. and Strosahl, K. D.. (Eds.), A Practical Guide to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. New York: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Williams, M., Teasdale, J., Segal, Z. and Kabat-Zinn, J. (2007). The Mindful Way Through Depression: freeing yourself from chronic unhappiness. London: The Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Zettle, R. D. (2005). The evolution of a contextual approach to therapy: from comprehensive distancing to ACT. International Journal of Behavioural and Consultation Therapy, 1, 77–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zettle, R. D. and Hayes, S. C. (1982). Rule-governed behaviour: a potential theoretical framework for cognitive-behavioural therapy. In Kendall, P. C.. (Ed.), Advances in Cognitive-Behavioural Research and Therapy (pp. 73–118). New York: Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.