Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an approach that is used to treat patients with chronic pain. ACT utilizes a process to increase psychological flexibility to enable patients the ability to connect to the present moment more fully and to change or commit to behaviors to move toward a positive outcome.
Two Major Goals of ACT
- To foster acceptance of pain – which is out of a person’s control.
- To facilitate patients to return to the activities that they most value in life.
Many patients who experience chronic pain avoid activities and behaviors which may result in psychological distress, lower recovery rates, increased levels of depression, anxiety and a heightened pain sensitivity.
