ACT Made Simple

The chapter opens with Churchill's words: «If you're going through hell, keep going!» Russ Harris writes openly: life is both wonderful and terrible; everything that makes life rich has a painful side, and being happy for long is hard. One of the main reasons is that the human mind has naturally evolved to create psychological suffering. The author himself says this is «not a very optimistic start to a book» and answers: there is a way — Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).

ACT is pronounced not as «A-C-T» but like the English word «act». It is a behavioural therapy, but not about any action: it is about actions guided by core values, «behaving like the person you want to be». What do you want to be remembered for at your funeral? The aim of the therapy is psychological flexibility — the ability to act mindfully, guided by values. ACT was proposed in the mid-1980s by Steven Hayes, taken further with Kelly Wilson and Kirk Strosahl, rests on functional contextualism and Relational Frame Theory (RFT) and is counted as the «third wave» of behavioural therapies (like DBT, MBCT, CFT).

Harris shows three difficulties: life is hard; all of human life brings emotions that give both satisfaction and pain; a normal human mind by its nature increases psychological suffering. Example: Susan's wedding day, at her happiest moment the thought «I wish my father were here» comes and she remembers her father, who killed himself when she was sixteen. Thanks to the mind we can experience pain even on the happiest day of our lives. ACT helps in two ways: it clarifies what really matters (values) and teaches us to cope effectively with difficult thoughts and feelings (mindfulness skills).

The second half of the chapter is ACT's «bad reputation» and its six core processes: the reputation has two causes — the complexity of RFT (not touched on in the book) and the non-linear structure of ACT. The six processes: contact with the present moment, defusion, acceptance, the self-as-context (the observing self), values and committed action. These processes are presented as the «flexibility hexagon» and the «six-faced diamond», and the diamond itself is psychological flexibility. Harris groups them into three: «Be present», «Open up», «Do what matters».

• The chapter opens the language of «struggle» in two sentences: life is hard, our mind increases pain
• The complex theory is explained with analogies (ACT — driving, RFT — knowing how the engine works)
• The Susan example and special diagrams (the hexagon, the triangle) visualise the concepts
• The author writes with humour and presents himself on the reader's level