Spotlight on Value Sorting (ACT)

Let's pay attention to another therapeutic modality by looking at one of its classic interventions. 

ACT stands for Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and it's another evidence-based approach to treatment. For quick study, I like to think of ACT as a cousin of CBT that more strongly emphasizes mindfulness interventions.

Steven Hayes developed ACT in the 1980s, and it's indicated for a wide range of psychological conditions. One of my favorite ACT interventions to use in my clinical work is the values sort. This intervention involves prompting clients to look through a list of common values and rank their top choices. (Sometimes I write the values on colorful popsicle sticks to make this a more tactile intervention.) The values sort intervention provides a lot of food for thought and can help clients to reconnect with themselves and their motivations. It can also feed into some helpful goal-setting (I'll prompt folks to set a few SMART goals for their top three values).

ACT really emphasizes reconnecting with and being with yourself and your emotions - pleasant and unpleasant. If you've been keeping up with my posts lately, this may remind you of distress tolerance. Bonus question: Which therapeutic modality is most closely associated with distress tolerance?

 

Double bonus: What does SMART stand for above? 

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