Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an action-oriented approach that aims to increase psychological flexibility and promote change. Practicing ACT transforms how people interact with their thoughts and feelings (Hayes, 2019). Professor Steven C. Hayes developed ACT in the mid-1980 as part of the third wave of behavioral therapy. Hayes and his colleagues, Dr. Kelly Wilson and Dr. Kirk Strosahl, continued to further develop this theory.

Dr. Steven C. Hayes described in his book, A Liberated Mind: How to Pivot Toward What Matters, the six “pivots” in ACT (Hayes, 2020, p. 23-24):

1. “Defusion”

2. “Self”

3. “Acceptance”

4. “Presence”

5. “Values”

6. “Action”

The first pivot, defusion, illuminates how we have allowed ourselves to be fused with our thoughts, even though they are just passing thoughts. If we can defuse ourselves from these passing thoughts that are inhibiting us, then we can freely choose what we want to do next, disregarding our mental cacophony (Hayes, 2020, p. 25).

The second pivot, self, is realizing our “conceptualized self,” meaning we have to free ourselves from obeying the established, but potentially hurtful narrative that draws from the past. By overly committing to our outdated stories, we are limiting ourselves from seeing and taking new actions that we may want.

The third pivot, acceptance, is allowing ourselves to feel even when we are hurting, because we need to lean into vulnerability. If we avoid vulnerability, we are allowing it to have power over us by letting it scare us away from doing what we truly want to do.

The fourth pivot, presence, is mindfully living in the here and now. Distracting ourselves with engrossing activities that do not align with our values is not living in the here and now, that is being distracted. This pivot asks us to direct our attention in an intentional way, so that we notice the present and interact with the present in meaningful ways (Hayes, 2020, p. 26).

The fifth pivot, values, is to choose what values we want to evolve toward. Values are not goals, we do not just achieve them. Values are directions we want to follow in life because actions in that direction lead us to create meaning.

The sixth pivot, action, is to create habits that support these choices, so we can continually “ACT” in ways that we value on a regular basis. With taking value-oriented actions being a crucial part of this theory, ACT is pronounced as the verb “act,” not the letters “A-C-T.”

Dr. Hayes noted that we want to apply these six pivots simultaneously, because these pivots support one another. By practicing ACT, we can have a more liberated mind to act in the ways that matter to us.