For the new edition of my book on happiness I’m adding (among other things) a chapter on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). It’s not easy to describe it in a few words. The ‘acceptance’ part is all to do with letting unpleasant thoughts come and go, while distancing yourself from them (rather as in Neuro-Linguistic Programming, in fact). And the ‘commitment’ part is all to do with taking action to improve your life guided by your values. There’s quite a lot of statistical evidence that ACT works for a number of psychological problems. But I’d really love to hear from anyone who has used ACT to promote happiness rather than to reduce unhappiness, if you see what I mean. If that’s you, either as a therapist or as a client, then please share your experiences with us by clicking on Comments.
