ACT in Steps

Michael P. Twohig, PhD is a licensed psychologist in the state of Utah and a Professor of Psychology at Utah State University. He received his BA and MS from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, his PhD from the University of Nevada, Reno, and completed his clinical internship at the University of British Columbia Hospital. He is past-President of the Association of Contextual Behavioral Science, the organization most associated with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). His research focuses on the use of ACT across a variety of clinical presentations with an emphasis on obsessive compulsive and related disorders. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and three books: An ACT-Enhanced Behavior Therapy Approach to the Treatment of Trichotillomania (with Woods), ACT Verbatim for Depression and Anxiety (with Hayes), and Innovations in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (with Levin and Krafft). His research has been funded through multiple sources including the National Institute of Mental Health. Michael E. Levin, PhD is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Utah State University and a licensed psychologist in the state of Utah. He received his PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Nevada, Reno under the mentorship of Dr. Steven C. Hayes and completed his predoctoral internship at the Brown University Clinical Psychology Training Consortium. Dr. Levin's research focuses on online and self-guided Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) interventions to improve the reach and impact of mental health services, which has been supported by funding sources including the National Institute of Health. He has published over 100 articles and book chapters, primarily on ACT. Dr. Levin has published two previous books: Innovations in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (with Twohig and Krafft) and Mindfulness and Acceptance for Addictive Behaviors (with Hayes). Clarissa W. Ong, MS, is a fifth-year doctoral student in the Combined Clinical/Counseling Psychology program at Utah State University. She received her BA from Smith College. Her research interests include developing and testing process-based interventions for anxiety and obsessive-compulsive related concerns and psychometric evaluation of clinical measures.

Chapter 1: What Is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)?

Chapter 2: Assessment

Chapter 3: General Guide to the ACT Therapeutic Context

Chapter 4: Session 1: ACT Orientation and Creative Hopelessness

Session 1 Homework

Chapter 5: Session 2: Control as the Problem

Chapter 6: Sessions 3 and 4: Acceptance Supported by Defusion

Chapter 7: Sessions 5 and 6: Acceptance, Defusion, Mindfulness, and Values

Chapter 8: Sessions 7 and 8: Acceptance, Defusion, Mindfulness, and Self-as-Context

Chapter 9: Session 9: Values

Chapter 10: Session 10: Values and Behavioral Commitments

Chapter 11: Session 11: Maintaining Growth

Appendix A. General ACT Principles

Appendix B. Session-by-Session ACT Cheat Sheet

Appendix C. Behavioral Commitment Worksheet

Appendix D. List of Mindfulness Apps

Appendix E. NOTE Handout

Appendix F. Valued Living Questionnaire (VLQ)

Appendix G. Values Bull's Eye

Appendix H. Self-Guided ACT Resources