Acceptance Commitment Therapy (pronounced act; Hayes, Strosahl & Wilson, 1999) is a psychological approach that has its roots within Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) tradition. At its the core of the ACT model is the philosophy that human suffering emerges from normal psychological processes, in that the internal experiences of thoughts, memories, hallucinations, images and physical sensations are not in themselves problematic, but the response to these experiences is more critical than than the experience (Hayes, Stroshahl & Wilson, 2012). By using ACT, it enables individuals to perform activities while experiencing unwanted or uncomfortable sensations. These sensations could be psychological or physical. The aim of ACT is to generate an open up to unwanted sensations and that they are a normal response, be present by drawing attention to the here and now, and do what matters by undertaking value-driven goal directed behaviours (Harris, 2016)
ACT comprises of six components that when working together could generate psychological flexibility (Hayes et al., 2012). This flexibility enables individuals to move away from rule governed behaviour to approach situations and sensations with an open mind. The ACT Hexaflex is presented in figure 2.
Figure 2 Model of psychological flexibility (Hayes et al., 2012, p. 63)
Acceptance of private experiences is the embracing of all experiences, including thoughts, emotions, urges and memories. When an individual practices acceptance, they do not attempt to alter unwanted, undesired, or uncomfortable experiences
Cognitive Defusion is a skill that enables individuals to observe uncomfortable thoughts and not become hooked by them. When this skill is used the individual can step back from their thoughts and observe them as is they come and go. A metaphor for this would be to imagine yourself stood on the side of the road watching your thoughts drive past in cars.
Contact with the present moment refers to being able to willingly and voluntarily direct attention to internal and external cues taking place in that moment and not getting drawn into thoughts focusing on past events or potential futures. Staying present is also remaining non-judgemental towards what is happening in that moment.
Self as context allows an individual to take perspective of themselves in the moment with an ongoing awareness. This contrasts with a conceptualised self where rules govern behaviour “I play this way”
Values are constructs that are personally important to an individual, detailing what you stand for in life as an individual, and function as guidelines for behaviour.
Committed action refers to taking action that is directed to valued outcomes. This is where individuals engage in activities for the fulfilment of values e.g. “I’m going to go for a run today despite the cold, wet weather”.
A model of psychological inflexibility has also been presented to explain behaviours that are maladaptive in pursuit of an individual’s goals and values. This model provides a contrast for each of the components of the model of flexibility (Hayes et al., 2012). These components are:
Experiential avoidance: behaviours are directed towards avoiding unwanted experiences such as emotions, sensations, and interactions. In extreme cases individuals will avoid the event triggering the experience. In mild cases individuals may try to alter, suppress, or control the experience.
Cognitive fusion: individuals are strongly attached to their internal experiences, believing that their thoughts and images will happen.
Inflexible attention: Attention is focused on memories or potential futures and consequences. This is prevalent when individuals get caught up in problem solving process.
Attachment to the conceptualised self: individuals are attached to their self-perceptions and needs.
Disruptions of values: this is where individuals have lost contact or awareness of what gave their life meaningful, often being driven by experiential avoidance and cognitive fusion.
Inaction, impulsivity, or avoidant persistence: this is the behavioural outcomes of avoidant actions, fusion and loss of contact with values. This can be defined as two categories, avoidance (inaction or withdrawal) and excess (impulsivity and addictive behaviours).
By uaing the ACT approach with athletes I aim to identify the type of individual they want to be and how this aligns to their goals. Working with individuals we will identify what they want to achieve (their goals), their purpose for these goals (their why) and the values informed behaviours that are going to help the achieve these aims (their how). With these goals and values identified we can then work on what is getting in the way of you acheiving these goals. Is it a connection with doubts that then lead to avoiding experiences, a fusion with your self-concept that means making mistakes or missing a shot or pass is bad, so we avoid risky shots. Know that these are all normal processes but by learning skills to accept, defuse, notice what is happening and live in the moment you can live the life that matters to you.
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