Know your ACT from your CBT

What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and what are the differences?

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) are both psychological counselling therapies that derive from a combining of the approach and theory of the Behavioural and Cognitive schools of psychology. But what are they, and how are they different?

Both ACT and CBT are therapist guided self-help interventions used to address dysfunctional or distressing thoughts, feelings, and behaviour. The key difference between the two therapy approaches is most easily seen via their outcome objectives. CBT uses a reappraisal process to modify problematic beliefs, thoughts, and behaviours, treating the core issue as a problem to be solved. ACT views the core issue as part of the human experience, recognises the potential for unhelpful pathologisation, and encourages a de-emphasis through acceptance of dysfunctional or distressing thoughts and feelings, combined with a mindful commitment to healthy personal goals and values. CBT is considered the “gold standard” of psychological intervention, and as such it has seen substantially more research and empirical backing; however, ACT has a growing evidence basis for its use.

Ultimately either therapy is deployed based on the symptoms you are experiencing and the treatment goals you arrive at in discussion with your psychologist.