Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment therapy: two popular types of psychotherapy that will help you release unwanted, unhelpful thoughts and feelings. These therapies both yield positive results and help in treating many mental health conditions including depression, anxiety, substance use disorders, and eating disorders. Both are talk therapies that use different approaches Even though they both use different techniques and approaches they can help you feel better. Both the therapies can be used for individual therapy, group therapy or a couple therapy setting. CBT works by helping you identify and change negative thoughts, ACT holds that pain and discomfort are a part and a fact of life., lets learn more about them:
What is Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)?
Using CBT techniques will help you replace problematic thought patterns and think of more positive and helpful ones. This type of therapy helps you reframe your perspective and view lifes challenges in a better manner.
3 basic principles of CBT
1. Core beliefs: Our core beliefs are molded by our childhood and childhood experiences. They are deeply rooted in how we view ourselves, our environment and the future. This can be easily explained by an example- Let’s say you grew up in a very safe household where all the adults let you make your own decisions and corrected you when you were wrong. This actually helped you understand what’s wrong and right but at the same time it made you strict with yourselves. You can’t just go out and drink because you are now an adult. Infographic by keva bora
and you fail to keep up with your own expectations for yourself. Your core believes that sometimes letting go and having fun is wrong. CBT helps change these thoughts and patterns and let go of extreme feelings.
2. Dysfunctional Assumptions: Negative thoughts are something which can be more easily held on to. Our perceptions of reality get heavily distorted and disoriented because of these cognitive distortions
3. Automatic negative thoughts: All or nothing thinking, such as thinking that you’re a failure if you do something that doesn’t fit your idea of how you “should” be. Over generalization means that you “have to” get something right or you cannot do something because you aren’t smart enough.
What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)?
Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), a type of psychotherapy, emphasizes acceptance as an efficient way to deal with negative, hurtful thoughts, feelings, symptoms, or circumstances. It encourages people to increase commitment to healthy, constructive activities that uphold their values or help them get closer to their goals.
3 principles of ACT
1. Cognitive defusion: This is based on the idea that you need to perceive things the way they actually are. Thoughts, actions, memories often get distorted and our unconscious mind tends to think about the extremes. Cognitive defusion helps clear the mind and see things as they are.
2. Expansion/ Acceptance: Harris refers to “acceptance” as expansion, he believes that more than just accepting it is an expansion of feelings and a lot more. It refers to the practice of making room for unpleasant urges, sensations and feelings instead of trying to suppress them or push them away. We find that they bother us much less if we simply open up and allow them to come and go ( avoiding any struggle with them ), running from them, or giving them undue attention. Instead of hanging around and bothering us, those feelings also move on quickly.
3. Connect: This therapy makes people understand how important it is to make connections with people and the present moment. It will help you understand the importance of mindfulness- being aware of thoughts and actions.
Difference between CBT VS ACT treatment
ACT: A long term and a short term therapy. 16-20 sessions, 50 minutes – 1 hour. (On an Average)
The main goal of ACT is to gain the ability to enter the present moment more fully and either change or persist in behavior when doing so serves value ends. Basically, to be able to increase psychological flexibility. It aims to accept negative thoughts rather than complete rejection of them.
Benefits: The key benefit is that it helps patients battle mental disorders without usings medications. It helps patients deal with their emotions, so they can feel all emotions and accept them as is.
Therapy type: Acceptance and commitment therapy is a type of mindful psychotherapy that will help you channel your energy into healing rather than dwelling on negative thoughts.It helps you look at yourself without judgment.
CBT: A short term therapy. 5-20 sessions, 30-60 minutes. (On an Average)
- The main goal: While you cannot control the things going around you, you can change the way you perceive things and reject negative thoughts altogether.
- Benefits: It helps us get in control of our emotions. This therapy changes us in a way where we control how we feel and our emotions are not in control of that because we are in control of emotions.
- Therapy type: It incorporates strategies such as emotional regulation and mindfulness.
What does ACT and CBT Treat?
- 1.Depression
- 2.Anxiety disorders
- 3.ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)
- 4.Eating disorders
- 5.Trauma
- 6.Chronic pain
- 7.Substance use disorders
Which is more effective? ACT OR CBT
CBT is more accepted by clinicians as a treatment of choice because it has a robust research presence but ACT has more recently been accepted as well.
ACT is a more accepting therapy which may be more effective for emotional people and CBT is commonly more effective for people who use the logical parts of their brains.
