Acceptance Commitment Therapy at Elsternwick’s Your Psychologist 

Your Psychologist is the pre-eminent psychologist in Elsternwick, offering acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to clients from all walks of life.

ACT is an action-oriented approach to psychotherapy that stems from traditional behavior therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy. Clients learn to stop avoiding, denying, and struggling with their inner emotions and, instead, accept that these deeper feelings are appropriate responses to certain situations that should not prevent them from moving forward in their lives. With this understanding, clients begin to accept their issues and hardships and commit to making necessary changes in their behavior, regardless of what is going on in their lives, and how they feel about it.

ACT has been used effectively to treat workplace stress, test anxiety, social anxiety disorder, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and psychosis. It has also been used to help treat medical conditions such as chronic pain, substance abuse, and diabetes.

If ACT sounds like it could be suitable for you, please don’t hesitate to Your Psychologist, the leading acceptance and commitment psychologist in Elsternwick. 

What to expect with acceptance commitment therapy in Elsternwick

Working with a therapist, you will learn to listen to your own self-talk, or the way you talk to yourself specifically about traumatic events, problematic relationships, physical limitations, or other issues. 

You can then decide if an issue requires immediate action and change or if it can—or must—be accepted for what it is while you learn to make behavioral changes that can affect the situation. You may look at what hasn’t worked for you in the past, so that the therapist can help you stop repeating thought patterns and behaviors that are causing you more problems in the long run. 

Once you have faced and accepted your current issues, you make a commitment to stop fighting your past and your emotions and, instead, start practicing more confident and optimistic behavior, based on your personal values and goals.

How acceptance and commitment schema therapy helps Elsternwick clients

The theory behind ACT is that it is not only ineffective, but often counterproductive, to try to control painful emotions or psychological experiences, because suppression of these feelings ultimately leads to more distress. ACT adopts the view that there are valid alternatives to trying to change the way you think, and these include mindful behaviour, attention to personal values, and commitment to action. By taking steps to change their behavior while, at the same time, learning to accept their psychological experiences, clients can eventually change their attitude and emotional state.

If you or someone you know would benefit from acceptance commitment therapy, please don’t hesitate to contact Your Psychologist. In addition to acceptance and commitment therapy, Elsternwick locals can also reach out to me for schema therapy, CBT, executive coaching and relationship counselling.