Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): Live According to Your Values
What if trying to get rid of feeling bad were actually part of the problem? Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) starts from a bold idea: difficult emotions do not need to be eliminated. We can learn to live with them while directing our lives toward what truly matters to us.
What Is ACT?
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is a third-wave cognitive behavioral therapy approach developed by American psychologist Steven C. Hayes in the 1980s. ACT is based on Relational Frame Theory, which explains how the human mind creates suffering through language and thinking.
ACT's core message is simple yet revolutionary: happiness is not the absence of symptoms. Humans are meant to experience the full range of emotions: sadness, fear, anger, disappointment. These are not flaws to be fixed. They are part of the human experience. When we stop fighting against them, energy is freed for what truly matters.
ACT's Six Core Processes
ACT is built on six core processes that together form psychological flexibility:
1. Acceptance
Acceptance means openness to experiencing feelings and thoughts as they are: without fighting, avoidance, or suppression. This is not passive resignation but an active choice to let emotions exist and pass through.
2. Cognitive Defusion
Defusion means gaining distance from your own thoughts. Instead of believing every thought is truth, you learn to see thoughts as just thoughts. For example, "I am a failure" becomes "I am having the thought that I am a failure", and the thought loses its grip.
3. Present Moment Awareness
When we are present in this moment, we do not get absorbed in past regrets or future worries. Present moment awareness helps live each moment fully.
4. Self as Context
You learn to distinguish yourself from your thoughts and feelings. You are not your thoughts. You are the one observing the thoughts. This "observing self" is stable and unchanging, even as thoughts and feelings shift.
5. Values
Values are your life compass. What is truly important to you? What kind of person do you want to be? In therapy, you clarify your own values: not the ones others expect, but those that truly resonate within you.
6. Committed Action
Values alone are not enough. You must also act according to them. Committed action means concrete steps in the direction of your values, even when the journey feels frightening or uncomfortable.
Who Is ACT Suitable For?
ACT's strength is its broad applicability. Research evidence is strong particularly for:
- Chronic pain: ACT is one of the most effective psychological pain management methods
- Anxiety disorders: especially generalized anxiety
- Depression: particularly recurrent depression
- Burnout and stress: values work helps rediscover motivation
- Substance use problems: through acceptance toward change
- Eating disorders: addressing body and food relationships
- Chronic illness: living with diabetes, heart disease, and other conditions
ACT is also excellent for people who do not suffer from diagnosed disorders but want to live a more meaningful and flexible life.
How Does ACT Differ from Traditional Therapy?
Many therapy forms aim to reduce distressing symptoms. ACT's goal is different: psychological flexibility. This means the ability to be present, make room for difficult experiences, and act according to your values.
In ACT, "success" does not mean no longer having distressing emotions. It means they no longer control your life. You can feel fear and still make courageous choices. You can feel sadness and still live a meaningful life.
What Does ACT Cost and How Do I Get Started?
An ACT session typically costs 80–120 euros in Finland. ACT can be part of Kela-reimbursed rehabilitative psychotherapy when the therapist is a Kela-approved provider. Treatment usually lasts 10–20 sessions, though longer processes are possible.
In Conclusion
ACT reminds us that life is not about solving problems. It is about creating meaningful experiences. Difficulties are part of life, but they do not prevent you from living according to your values. The first step may be small, but if it is in the direction of your values, it is enough.
Where to find a therapist
You can look for a therapist in several places:
- Search services run by the Finnish Psychological Association (Psykologiliitto) and professional bodies.
- Kela's service provider search, if you are applying for rehabilitative psychotherapy (only Kela-approved therapists qualify for reimbursement).
- The Valitse Terapia service and other directories.
- Your own health centre, occupational health service or student health service (YTHS), which can refer you onward.
You can contact several therapists and see with whom the collaboration feels natural.
Get help in a crisis now
If you are having thoughts of self-harm or are otherwise in an acute crisis, you do not have to face it alone.
- In an emergency, call 112.
- MIELI Mental Health Finland crisis line: 09 2525 0113 (English and Arabic), 09 2525 0111 (Finnish), 09 2525 0112 (Swedish).
- For under-29s: Sekasin chat (sekasin.fi).
Help is available anonymously, and you do not need to be sure your situation is serious enough.
Sources
Discuss this article with an AI assistant
Open this article in the assistant of your choice, ask for a summary and follow up. Opens in a new tab.
AI assistants can be wrong and are not a substitute for a healthcare professional.