Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) in Glendale & Pasadena, CA
Our psychologists and therapists may incorporate ACT into individual therapy for concerns such as anxiety, depression, stress, self-esteem difficulties, ADHD, and other emotional or behavioral challenges. Therapy is available in Glendale and Pasadena, as well as online throughout California.
What Is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy?
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, commonly known as ACT, is a form of psychotherapy that helps people develop a different relationship with difficult thoughts and emotions.
People often spend considerable energy trying to avoid, control, suppress, or eliminate uncomfortable internal experiences. While these efforts are understandable, they can sometimes make it harder to move toward the relationships, activities, and goals that matter most.
ACT helps clients develop greater openness to difficult experiences while learning to make choices guided by their personal values.
The goal is not to eliminate every uncomfortable thought or feeling. Instead, ACT focuses on increasing psychological flexibility—the ability to remain present, adapt to difficult experiences, and take meaningful action even when uncomfortable thoughts or emotions are present.
How ACT Works
ACT combines acceptance, mindfulness, values clarification, and behavior change strategies.
Clients may learn to notice thoughts without automatically treating them as facts, make room for uncomfortable emotions rather than constantly struggling against them, and identify values that can help guide important decisions.
Therapy can also help clients recognize patterns of avoidance that may provide short-term relief but create longer-term difficulties.
Over time, ACT can help people respond to internal experiences with greater flexibility while taking actions that support the kind of life they want to build.
What Can ACT Help With?
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy may be helpful for a variety of emotional and behavioral concerns, including:
- Anxiety and excessive worry
- Depression and low motivation
- Chronic stress and burnout
- ADHD-related difficulties
- Low self-esteem and self-critical thinking
- Trauma-related difficulties
- Perfectionism
- Avoidance and procrastination
- Difficulty adjusting to change
- Emotional distress related to relationships or life transitions
ACT can also be useful for people who feel stuck in repeated attempts to control difficult thoughts or emotions.
Therapy is individualized based on each client’s concerns, circumstances, and goals.
Core Principles of ACT
ACT includes several interconnected processes designed to increase psychological flexibility.
Acceptance involves allowing difficult thoughts and emotions to be present without constantly trying to suppress or eliminate them.
Cognitive defusion involves learning to observe thoughts as mental experiences rather than automatically treating them as facts or instructions.
Mindfulness and present-moment awareness help clients notice what is happening internally and externally with greater openness and attention.
Values clarification helps people identify what genuinely matters to them in areas such as relationships, work, family, personal growth, and well-being.
Committed action involves taking meaningful steps that reflect those values, even when difficult thoughts or emotions are present.
These processes are not rigid steps. They can be used in different ways depending on the individual and the concerns being addressed.
Our Approach to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
At California Therapy Center & Psychological Services, ACT is one of several therapeutic approaches our psychologists and therapists may use depending on the needs of each client.
Some clients benefit from ACT as a primary framework, while others may benefit from integrating ACT with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Psychodynamic Therapy, mindfulness-based strategies, or other approaches.
Treatment is individualized rather than based on a single formula. Therapy may consider symptoms as well as relationships, life experiences, coping patterns, personal values, and the circumstances contributing to a client’s concerns.
ACT Isn’t About Getting Rid of Difficult Thoughts
One of the most important ideas in ACT is that emotional well-being does not require eliminating every unwanted thought or uncomfortable emotion.
Trying to completely control anxiety, sadness, self-doubt, or other internal experiences can sometimes become a struggle of its own.
ACT helps clients practice noticing these experiences without allowing them to automatically determine what happens next. A person can experience anxiety and still take an important step, notice self-doubt and still pursue a meaningful goal, or experience sadness while remaining connected to people and activities that matter.
The focus is not simply on feeling better in the moment. It is on developing greater flexibility in how we respond to life’s inevitable challenges.
Values and Meaningful Action
Values play an important role in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.
Values are not simply goals to accomplish. They represent broader qualities and directions that people want to bring into their lives, such as being a supportive partner, engaged parent, dependable friend, thoughtful professional, or caring person.
Therapy can help clients clarify what matters to them and recognize when fear, avoidance, self-criticism, or other patterns are pulling them away from those values.
Clients can then begin taking realistic, meaningful steps toward the life they want to build.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Glendale, Pasadena & Online Throughout California
California Therapy Center & Psychological Services provides ACT for adults in Glendale and Pasadena, California. Online therapy is also available to clients throughout California.
Our psychologists and therapists work with adults experiencing anxiety, depression, chronic stress, ADHD, self-esteem difficulties, trauma-related concerns, relationship difficulties, and other emotional challenges.
The therapeutic approach is tailored to each client’s individual needs, goals, and circumstances.
Frequently Asked Questions About Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Is ACT an evidence-based therapy?
ACT is an established psychotherapy approach that has been studied for a variety of psychological and behavioral concerns. Whether ACT is appropriate for a particular client depends on the individual’s needs, symptoms, goals, and circumstances.
What is the difference between ACT and CBT?
CBT often helps clients identify patterns of thinking and behavior that may be contributing to emotional distress and develop more helpful responses. ACT places particular emphasis on acceptance, mindfulness, psychological flexibility, personal values, and changing one’s relationship with difficult thoughts and emotions rather than necessarily trying to change the thoughts themselves.
Both approaches can be useful, and elements of CBT and ACT may sometimes be incorporated into the same course of therapy.
Does acceptance mean giving up?
No. Acceptance in ACT does not mean approving of a difficult situation or resigning yourself to it. It involves recognizing thoughts, emotions, and experiences as they are so that you can respond more intentionally rather than spending all of your energy struggling against what you are experiencing internally.
Is ACT only for anxiety?
No. Although ACT is frequently used with anxiety, it may also be helpful for depression, chronic stress, self-esteem difficulties, ADHD-related concerns, trauma-related difficulties, avoidance, perfectionism, and other emotional or behavioral challenges.
Does ACT use mindfulness?
Yes. Mindfulness and present-moment awareness are important components of ACT. Clients may learn to observe thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations with greater awareness and less automatic judgment or avoidance.
How do I know if ACT is right for me?
ACT may be particularly useful for people who feel caught in repeated attempts to control or avoid difficult thoughts and emotions or who want to make choices that are more consistent with their personal values. However, no single therapy approach is appropriate for everyone. Your therapist can help determine which therapeutic approaches are most appropriate for your concerns and goals.
Start Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
If anxiety, depression, stress, self-doubt, avoidance, or other emotional difficulties are interfering with your daily life, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy may help you develop a more flexible way of responding to difficult experiences while moving toward what matters to you.
California Therapy Center & Psychological Services provides ACT in Glendale and Pasadena, with online therapy available throughout California.
To get started, request an appointment with one of our psychologists or therapists.