Evidence-based therapy that helps you build a meaningful life alongside difficult thoughts, emotions and uncertainty.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an evidence-based behavioural therapy that helps people develop greater psychological flexibility, the ability to respond to life’s challenges in ways that are guided by values rather than fear, avoidance or self-criticism.
Many of us spend enormous amounts of energy trying to get rid of uncomfortable thoughts, emotions or memories. We might avoid situations that trigger anxiety, argue with our thoughts, seek certainty, criticise ourselves or wait until we feel “better” before fully engaging with life. Although these strategies often make sense, they can gradually make our world smaller.
At Food For Thought Therapy, I see ACT as an invitation to develop a different relationship with difficult internal experiences. Rather than asking how we can eliminate every uncomfortable thought or feeling, ACT asks a different question: “If these experiences were no longer making your decisions for you, what kind of life would you want to build?”
Therapy doesn’t aim to remove pain from life, because that simply isn’t possible. Instead, it helps you create more space for difficult experiences while moving towards the people, activities and values that matter most to you.
Understanding ACT
One of the central ideas in ACT is that struggling against our internal experiences can sometimes create more suffering than the experiences themselves.
When anxiety appears, we naturally want it to disappear. When difficult memories arise, we may try to push them away. When self-critical thoughts appear, we may spend hours arguing with them. Although these responses are completely understandable, they can unintentionally strengthen the very patterns we’re trying to escape.
ACT doesn’t encourage people to “accept” suffering in the sense of giving up or putting up with things that can be changed. Instead, acceptance refers to making space for thoughts and emotions that are already present, allowing them to come and go without needing to control, suppress or obey them. This creates greater psychological flexibility, the ability to choose how we respond based on our values rather than being driven solely by our thoughts or emotions
What Happens During ACT?
What Can ACT Help With?
ACT may be particularly helpful if you notice yourself becoming caught in patterns of avoidance, overthinking or struggling against difficult internal experiences. It has a growing evidence base across a wide range of psychological difficulties, including:
- Anxiety Disorders
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
- Depression
- Chronic Pain
- Health Anxiety
- Stress and Burnout
- Long-Term Health Conditions
The Evidence Behind ACT
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a well-established psychological therapy used across a wide range of difficulties, including anxiety, depression, OCD, chronic pain, stress and difficulties associated with long-term health conditions.
ACT is based on a simple but important idea: struggling to control or eliminate difficult thoughts and feelings can sometimes become part of what keeps us stuck. The more life becomes organised around avoiding anxiety, suppressing thoughts, waiting for confidence or trying to feel certain, the less space there may be for the things that actually matter.
Rather than teaching people to think positively or simply accept everything that happens, ACT develops psychological flexibility, the ability to make room for difficult internal experiences, step back from thoughts when they begin to dominate, and choose actions guided by values rather than by avoidance or fear.
The aim isn’t a life without difficult thoughts or emotions. It’s greater freedom in how we respond when they inevitably appear.
Food For Thought
How much of life can become organised around trying not to feel something? What might become possible if difficult thoughts and feelings could come with you without always deciding where you go?
A Note from Agi
One of the reasons I value ACT is that it gently challenges an idea many people understandably become caught in: “I’ll start living when I feel better.” When anxiety settles, when confidence arrives, when the thoughts stop, when uncertainty disappears, then I’ll do the things that matter to me.
The difficulty is that waiting can gradually become its own pattern. People may find themselves avoiding experiences, postponing decisions, withdrawing from relationships or making life increasingly small, not because those things don’t matter, but because difficult thoughts and feelings have started setting the conditions for when it feels safe enough to participate.
ACT doesn’t ask people to enjoy distress, resign themselves to suffering or simply “accept” things that can and should be changed. Instead, it helps us distinguish between what we can meaningfully influence and the internal experiences we may be exhausting ourselves trying to control.
For me, some of the most meaningful ACT work happens when the question gradually shifts from “How do I get rid of this feeling?” towards “How do I want to live when this feeling is here?” That doesn’t mean distress stops mattering. It means it no longer automatically gets the final say.
The aim is not simply to tolerate more discomfort. It’s to create greater flexibility, choice and space for the relationships, experiences and values that make life meaningful, even when the mind doesn’t provide perfect confidence, certainty or calm first.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)?
ACT is an evidence-based behavioural therapy that helps people develop psychological flexibility. Rather than trying to eliminate difficult thoughts and emotions, ACT helps you respond to them in ways that allow you to move towards the life you want to live.
Does ACT mean I have to accept my anxiety or depression?
No. This is one of the biggest misconceptions about ACT.
Acceptance doesn’t mean liking, wanting or giving up in the face of suffering. It means acknowledging thoughts and emotions that are already present, rather than exhausting yourself trying to control experiences that cannot always be controlled. At the same time, ACT actively encourages meaningful change in the areas of life where change is possible.
How is ACT different from CBT?
CBT often focuses on identifying and changing patterns of thinking and behaviour that maintain psychological difficulties. ACT shares many behavioural principles but places greater emphasis on changing our relationship with thoughts rather than challenging whether they are true or false.
Both are evidence-based approaches, and I frequently integrate elements of both depending on your formulation and goals.
What are values in ACT?
Values are the qualities that give your life meaning and direction. They are not goals to achieve but ongoing ways of living, such as being compassionate, curious, connected, adventurous or authentic.
ACT helps you identify what matters most to you and take meaningful action in that direction, even when difficult thoughts or emotions are present.
Is ACT mindfulness?
Mindfulness is one part of ACT, but ACT is much broader than mindfulness alone.
It combines mindfulness with behavioural science, values-based action and practical psychological strategies that help you build greater flexibility in responding to life’s challenges.
Can ACT help with OCD?
Yes. ACT has an increasing evidence base for OCD and is often integrated with Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) or Inference-Based CBT. It can help people develop greater willingness to experience uncertainty while reducing the influence that obsessional thoughts have over behaviour.
Can ACT be combined with other therapies?
Absolutely. ACT integrates particularly well with CBT, EMDR, Schema Therapy and Compassion Focused Therapy, allowing treatment to address both symptom change and broader psychological flexibility.
How many ACT sessions will I need?
The number of sessions depends on your goals and the difficulties you’re experiencing. Some people use ACT as a focused intervention, while others benefit from integrating ACT principles throughout a longer course of therapy. We’ll review progress together throughout treatment.
Is ACT neurodiversity-affirming?
Yes. ACT’s emphasis on flexibility, values and acceptance often fits well within a neurodiversity-affirming framework. Therapy is adapted to your communication style, sensory needs, executive functioning and lived experience rather than expecting everyone to engage in the same way.
Do you offer ACT online?
Yes. I offer ACT online across the UK, alongside in-person appointments in Menai Bridge and Llandudno, North Wales.
What if I’ve spent years trying to get rid of my anxiety?
Many people come to ACT after years of fighting their thoughts and emotions. That struggle is understandable, it often develops because we desperately want life to feel easier.
ACT offers a different possibility. Rather than asking you to stop caring about your anxiety, it helps you discover that your life doesn’t have to stay on hold until anxiety disappears. As your relationship with difficult thoughts changes, many people find they gradually regain the freedom to move towards what matters most.
How Do We Start?
If you’re considering Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and would like to explore whether it may be the right approach for you, you’re welcome to book a free 15-minute discovery call.
Together, we’ll develop a shared understanding of your experiences, identify the patterns that may be keeping you stuck and consider whether ACT, or another evidence-based approach, is most likely to help you move towards the life you want to build.
Whether you’re experiencing anxiety, OCD, depression, chronic pain, health anxiety, stress or burnout, therapy begins by making sense of your experiences before creating opportunities for meaningful, lasting change.