Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) For Anxiety. Book Review

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) For Anxiety
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Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) For Anxiety
This paper is a summative review of Essentials of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy by Batten in 2011. Batten’s book is quite practical in the exposition and applicability of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) theory. This theory constitutes a critical component of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). The book provides a pictorial illustration of therapeutic flow from one phase to another, or till the end, by demonstrating how acceptance and mindfulness can be deployed together with commitment and behavioral change, with a view of improving psychological well-being and mitigating anxiety disorders. When ACT IS applied towards anxiety disorders, ACT encourages clients to end the struggle with the unpleasant sensations emanating from their anxiety while, at the same time, choosing behaviors and actions that move them closer to their values irrespective of how unpleasant such thoughts and feelings these actions may harbor.
ACT aims to face troubling anxiety disorders without the traditions of avoidance of unfavorable feelings and thoughts. Batten (2011) argued that anxiety disorders are developed and maintained by avoidant behavior patterns, and fusion with maladaptive thoughts and endeavors to regulate anxiety may increase psychological suffering and change experiences of anxiety disorders into maladaptive forms. The ACT has the potential to address such concerns by encouraging people to live with unpleasant symptoms of anxiety disorders by teaching about acceptability rather than attempting to suppress or eradicate such symptoms. Thus, ACT fosters compatibility with all forms of human experiences, which leads to psychological flexibility and will prevent attempts to avoid or suppress unwanted feeling and thoughts about anxiety.
In the concept of ACT, anxiety disorders emanate from various sources. These include an unwillingness to experience physiological consequences of anxiety, perception of anxiety even for normal as a threat, which results in a need for control, efforts to control anxiety results in its aggravation, and reinforcement of anxiety circle when people try to evade it (Batten, 2011)
The ACT, as presented by Batten, challenges the conventions of the standard behavioral therapies and the tenets of western psychology. Batten’s central argument in the ACT in the context of anxiety makes no obvious efforts to reduce anxiety symptoms, but the ultimate outcome is characterized by reduced symptoms and discomfort associated with a range of anxiety disorders. The ACT, as one of the therapeutic approaches to anxiety disorders, places emphasis on values, forgiveness, acceptance, and compassion, which is supported by encouraging the client to live in the present moment.
Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is geared towards helping patients to behave in a way that is more consistent with their values, and this is achieved by applying mindfulness and acceptance skills to their responses to uncontrollable experiences. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is one of the concepts that are centered on anxiety disorders. ACT provides a valid platfo...