Is anyone else doing ACT (Acceptance Commitment Therapy)? I'm not sure if I'm doing it right.

@wellwellwellnez I think any form of therapy is at least worth a try if you find yourself drawn to it in some way, do it for yourself. Maybe you will like some elements of it, and not others. It's not a religion you can refute parts of it, and get out of it what you will. Like all treatments, it will help some, and not so much the rest.

One ClinPsych I saw many years ago tried to introduce me to it.......for me it felt like yet another repackaging of Buddhist Psychology which I'd already read a lot about, so wasn't wowed, and similarly to Buddhist Psychology some of its teachings are very naive to me.

I think if a person's MH is biological and they have no history of interpersonal trauma/maltreatment/neglect it may work really well for them.......but for people that have been traumatised/terrorised & left for dead I agree with @Appleblossom its too simplistic. 'Acceptance' has connotations of 'forgiveness' and some things are unforgivable. And if we accept everything, what happens to protest, what happens to advocating for systemic change, what's wrong with being angry & having fire in your belly, a fire that I don't think I should have to extinguish; I don't think that all anger is bad.

If ACT therapy is similar to Buddhist Psychology and mindfulness I am probably being a little melodramatic, 'acceptance' is just really another way of saying, 'let your emotions be, don't judge them or label them as bad, but let them be exactly as they are which helps them to dissolve with more practice and less self judgment for having them in the first place'.......

I just wish to remain a little FFFffffffeisty if that's OK with Western Academics. Is that OK y'all, yeah cheers, thanks. In a like manner to Virginia Trioli's article on the weekend about the Cleo Smith case, and everyone being so relieved that she was 'bubbly' and 'sweet' and appeared 'well', as if the country is so comforted she isn't displaying any signs of distress because they couldn't put up with it..............just my 2 cents @wellwellwellnez I wish you well on your therapy journey. I have bought and borrowed many books over the years and I found I ended up with a mish mash of lots of theories/ideas/practices/routines to help me through this mess of a head, just enjoy the process of getting to know your own individuality. Corny

I did ACT about 15 years ago and felt I couldn't get my head around some of it. It wasn't until I did mindfulness meditations and later DBT that I realised the benefit of what I had done doing ACT.

You know @chibam , I think it was a rehab scene in "Breaking Bad" that got me first interested. The counsellor was saying that acceptance is better than improvement. And, that stated a whole other heated conversation with Jesse (who was having hard time doing either, and didn't like the idea of dismissing that struggle one bit). It was a while ago, and I couldn't quote the episode, but at the time I thought they both had a good point.

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@Corny wrote:

I just wish to remain a little FFFffffffeisty if that's OK with Western Academics.

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Oh that's good. I'm cackling over here. You dangerous.

Right @Jorge and @Corny . So there's more of an "enlightenment" component to to the practise that I've been underestimating. You've both given me serious pause. having a bit of a forest and trees moment, here.

Well, @BPDSurvivor @1stepup61 @Dimity @chibam @frog @Appleblossom @Jorge you've an swered my questions in abundance. Looking at your experiences I think the thing that makes it works is the good 'ole fashioned people-based approach. Even having a people-based approach to yourself sometimes.

Skinner was breakthroughs and all. But, ultimately only perfected the pigeon-based approach. It's up to the rest of us to fill in the gaps, when it comes to what's worth accepting and commiting to.

@wellwellwellnez

I love my topknot pigeons, but you sure are right, they aint peep by a long shot.