At Orlando Treatment Solutions, we recognize that if you want to truly heal, it’s not going to be about reducing your symptoms; it’s going to be about increasing your life so that you truly can live life on your terms and by your values. Our customized Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is now available for adults in the Jacksonville, Florida, area who are struggling with mental health issues, substance use problems, or co-occurring concerns.
What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy? (ACT)
Activities of Mindfulness and Commitment to live within the moment so that the person lives their life on the ideals that mean the most to them. Instead of just trying to block things that you find uncomfortable, thoughts, emotions, or physiological experiences show you how to accept things and to clarify your values so that you can take action in line with your values.
ACT was developed in the 1980s by Dr. Steven C. Hayes and is considered to be one of the “third wave” of cognitive behavioral treatment approaches. It is based on the evidence that most increased psychological suffering is associated with the tendency to become fused with mental experiences and attempt to control or avoid these experiences. Rather, ACT emphasizes psychological flexibility, which is the ability to live in the moment and be present with things and be open and respond effectively based on values.
How ACT Works at Orlando Treatment Solutions
At the Jacksonville ACT program at Orlando Treatment Solutions, we will help you through some key processes that can lead to positive change in your life:
- Acceptance – Accepting and allowing difficult inner experience and giving up fighting with or avoiding such experience.
- Cognitive Defusion – Changes the relation with the thoughts and feelings so that they are no longer the river that they flow and which flow through you and your behavior.
- Being present – Accepting your mindfulness of the present moment, as in thinking in the past or future
- Self as context –Realising yourself as greater than thought emotion or sensation (i.e. you are not your thinking ground.
- Values clarification – Finding the things that are important to you in life – your own personal compass.
- Commitment – Taking concrete actions in support of the values, in the face of resistance. (LifeStance Health)
Throughout this process, we pair ACT with other types of therapy that are evidence-based and are appropriate for you – and especially so if you are on the process of recovery from a dual diagnosis (mental health + substance use). Our team consists of a group of people working together with you to provide you with individual therapy, group therapy and support in a safe and compassionate environment.
Why Choose ACT?
If you are in Jacksonville, and you are considering an effective form of therapy, there are several advantages of ACT:
Greater psychological flexibility
Rather than become stuck in patterns of avoidance, anxiety or inflexible thinking you become responsive and flexible.
Values-based life
Values based life implies not only performing the ritual to reduce the symptoms but also living the life you would want to live, based on your values.
Versatile application
ACT can be applied to treat a wide diversity of concerns, including anxiety, depression, chronic pain, addictive behaviors, and co-occurring disorders.
Complementary to other therapies
These are used alongside other treatments like CBT or DBT.
Local accessibility
Orlando Treatment Solutions works with the majority of the Florida area, allowing you to receive special ACT services no matter where you live within the Jacksonville area.
At Orlando Treatment Solutions, You Can Expect:
- A safe and caring, ultimately, religious environment guided by individuality.
- A thorough assessment treating the proper role of ACT as part of the overall treatment plan (especially in the case of a co-occurring problem with substance abuse)
- Proficient clinicians who have a reflective understanding of the theoretical principles of ACT, and how to apply them flexibly to the real life context.
- Regular review and readjustment of your therapy so that it is relevant and responsive to your changing needs.
Is ACT Right for You in Jacksonville?
If you have the following conditions:
- Obsessions that keep you from having or thinking about painful thoughts or feelings
- Feeling that your life is not lived the way you want it to be
- Failure of past treatments to cure remaining symptoms of mental illness.
- Cocaine abuse and Mental health co-occurring disorders.
- A desire to live from a sense of purpose, presence and connection.
Ready to Make a Change?
So if you are living in Jacksonville FL and are ready to take a step in your journey to learn how Acceptance and Commitment Therapy can help you, please call us. Month by month, year by year, right here at Orlando Treatment Solutions, we are here to help you to develop that wealthier life: A values-based life, and enabling you to use your psychological flexibility and take purposeful actions.
Contact our admissions team today at (321) 415-3213 and to make a change today.
(FAQs) about Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT):
What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)?
ACT is a type of psychotherapy that helps individuals develop psychological flexibility—the ability to be present, open to difficult experiences, and take action guided by their personal values.
What is the main goal of ACT?
The main goal is to increase psychological flexibility to help individuals live a rich, full, and meaningful life, even with the presence of pain, difficult thoughts, and uncomfortable feelings. Symptom reduction is generally not the primary focus.
How is ACT different from traditional Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)?
Traditional CBT often focuses on identifying and changing (challenging or correcting) distressing thoughts. ACT, however, emphasizes accepting unwanted thoughts and feelings as they are (without trying to change them) and changing the relationship you have with them, while focusing on values-driven action.
What does “Acceptance” mean in ACT?
Acceptance in ACT is an active process of making room for unpleasant or painful thoughts, feelings, and sensations without trying to suppress, avoid, or change them. It’s about letting them be as they are so you can focus your energy on valuable life actions.
What are “Values” in the context of ACT?
Values are your chosen, desired life directions—what you want your life to stand for, what truly matters to you (e.g., family, growth, kindness, integrity). They act as a compass to guide your “Committed Action,” rather than being specific goals to be achieved and checked off.
What is “Cognitive Defusion”?
Cognitive Defusion is a core skill in ACT that involves learning to see thoughts as just thoughts—bits of language, passing mental events—rather than literal truths, rules that must be obeyed, or facts about you or the world.
What kinds of problems or conditions can ACT help treat?
ACT has been found helpful for a wide range of issues, including anxiety, depression, chronic pain, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), stress, substance use disorders, and generally improving life functioning and well-being.
