Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Says ACT Now

An Interview with John Huang, PhD

Dr. Huang, what is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)?

So ACT is about… How do you function despite your symptoms? We find that as people live the lives that they value, their symptoms do go down, but that that’s not the focus. That’s icing on the cake. The point is to live your life that you care about, right? What’s important to you. Even if you do that and your symptoms don’t go down, that’s still okay. You’re living the life, you know that’s worth living for you. That’s what I love about ACT. It’s very radically different in that sense. Typical session starts with commitments, so you know, it’s something that you’re willing to commit to during the week that is about taking steps towards that life that you want. Unfortunately, a lot of us, myself included, procrastinate like, well, when I feel better, like when my anxiety’s under control, when my depression’s under control, then I’m gonna do that thing that I’ve always wanted to do. Well ACT says, don’t wait. Like how do you, just take some steps towards it that are realistic. It’s not about changing thoughts or emotions. ACT would say those are very hard to change. What can I do right now in this moment? There’s different topics, acceptance, values, and some also, you could almost call it philosophical topics, like it’s called self is context. What is the self? …is basically the question. ACT talks about the self as you’re not just the body, you’re not just your thoughts, but you’re the experiencer, the observer, you know. Who you are is awareness. The awareness that, you know, touches and experiences, all of the things that you go through. I think that helps us have some perspective, not getting too attached to, for example, outcomes or a certain identity, but like kind of being more open to, I don’t know, open to life experiences, if that makes sense.