ACT and CT
Howdy. What I am is:
1. A newbie to ACT.
2. An oldbie to CT.
3. A depressive who has had his life turned around by a combination of CT and SSRI antidepressants.
4. Very interested and impressed with what I have read so far about RFT/ACT (mainly, the Get Out of Your Mind book, and the online RFT tutorial.)
What I am not is:
1. Formally educated, psychology-wise-speaking.
2. An expert on anything. ;)
My question/comment concerns the relationship between ACT and CT, as they seem more alike and complimentary than some of the reading I have done would suggest. For instance, while reading the first half of GOoYM, I was struck by the impression that ACT speaks directly to a very specific, powerful subset of CT, that being the questioning of "should/should not" with regard to FEELINGS.
For example, much suffering is brought on by self-haranguing of this sort. "I feel bad. I shouldn't feel bad. Feeling bad is bad. Because I'm feeling bad, I'm a failure at feeling good, and will never truly be happy, because you can't be happy if you ever feel bad." Or something similarly circular and corrosive.
CT addresses this by attempting to modify the form of the cognition ("I SHOULD feel bad, because feeling bad is a normal part of human experience.") ACT is more direct about focusing on defusing, but the goal is similar:
"Feel bad, and be okay with it." Acceptance. Can we say, "cognitive acceptance"?
Anyway, regardless of what all the smart people say, I have found both theories very helpful and complimentary, at least in the week since I was introduced to ACT. Reducing the negative function of the thoughts is good. Ameliorating the negative form of the thoughts is good. Both is great!
Theoretically speaking... ;)
I agree, I think they work
I agree, I think they work in conjunction and I love the way you put that "Reducing the negative function of the thoughts is good. Ameliorating the negative form of the thoughts is good. Both is great!"
I guess I'm more familiar still with CT, but what struck in working with anxiety problems is that for the people for whom CT worked their attributions changed with time as they talked more comfortbly about their experiences and thoughts. One lady stands out for me, who with time working within a CBT framework gradually began to see her thoughts as less significant. She commented that she saw it like taking a ride on a bus, in that she could see lots of bill boards with adverts on, like Nike "just buy it", but she didn't have to do what the signs said just because they told her to. She said that she had come to view her thoughts in this way, she could observe them like bill boards but could choose in how to react to them and did have to 'buy it' just because it said so. This metaphor was her own doing and had never been discussed in this way in session. Yet it seems that this is much more of an ACT way of viewing her thoughts which came about through CBT. I'm just wondering if this is through exposure to her thoughts which allowed her to see them in a less dangerous light.
your post
Hi Ben--
I think the bottom line is....Go with what works for you. CT has helped alot of people with depression--I'm glad it helped you. It looks like you also resonate with the ACT model. Continue trying both of them out across a variety of contexts, and see what continues to work best for you in producing the kind of life you want most. I think your observations about ACT and CT are astute--they use different methods, but both could get you to a point where you're fine with feeling bad. From a research perspective, it's still unclear exactly how each of these treatments really work. From my perspective, if you can change your mind, great! If you can walk toward what's most important to you even when your mind and your feelings scream "No!", that's great too.
You might want to try going to the Act for the Public website, currently at www.yahoogroups.com, for quicker replies to posts. I think people are still trying to get used to navigating this website.
Regaradless, I think the bottom line is: Do what works.
Best,
JT
JT Blackledge
Lecturer
University of Wollongong
New South Wales, Australia