ACT words

April 26th, 2008

This post will be revised from time to time as I accumulate definitions of some of the more common terms used in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT. It’s less of a glossary, and more something I’m throwing together on an as-needed basis. So expect it to be incomplete - even haphazard.

Values

Values are those qualities of action which point to how we may live a more vital and engaged life. Typically they are described as “directions” rather than goals, and are often phrased as adverbs, adjectives, or gerunds hooked to nouns that describe a particular domain (work, family, spirituality, etc.).

You might value being a “loving parent,” for example. It is a direction in that there is no defined end to “loving,” as there would be with even an important goal such as “making sure my kids get a good education.” The value of being “loving” in this case might direct many goals, including the one involving education.

An important aspect of values is that they must be experienced as freely chosen to be effective. Typically in ACT work this means doing lots of defusing - both when exploring values, and quite often while actually carrying them out in the form of goals and action steps. The reason for this is that if you’ve previously withdrawn from areas of valued living due to pain and suffering, re-engagement in such pursuits is almost guaranteed to bring up some heavy barriers in the form of punishing thoughts and emotions.

One classic ACT question about values is this: “In a world where you could choose to have your life be about something, what would you choose?” The question is phrased in this hypothetical manner to get past the usual objections that X, Y, and Z lie in the way and make valued living impossible.

Here is an excerpt from a post by ACT founder Steven C. Hayes, to the professional ACT list on Yahoo Groups, in which he talks about an interesting aspect of values - namely, that you can hold a value even if the current situation doesn’t give you a chance to show it:

When values are applied to specific events, situations, people and so on, affordances can shift our attention from chosen qualities of action that can be instantiated but not possessed to behavioral, emotional, or cognitive outcomes. Suppose you value a close relationship with your mother, but she is emotionally and physically abusive. Logically it appears as though either the value must change or you must accept abuse. Psychologically neither is true and for the reasons that underlie your distinctions. You can value kinds of relationships that the situation does not currently afford.

Think of human beings like ourselves as water and gravity as their values. In the context of gravity, going down is more important than going up. If we are in a bowl, that value will not be given obvious expression. Nothing goes down. But punch a large hole in the bowl and you will immediately see that the value was present all along. Put in a hairline crack and the value will not be given obvious expression but by watching it over time you will see that down in more important than up as water ever so slowly seeps through.

If Mom is absolutely dangerous and rejecting—and you value a close relationship with Mom—you may be like water in a bowl. If there is the littlest crack in the system, and you value a close relationship with Mom, in whatever way is afforded that value will seep through. If Mom is open to the relationship, the opening will allow the value to become immediately manifest. But the value was there throughout. If one asks “was the value there even when there was no opportunity afforded its obvious expression?” isn’t this much like asking “Was there gravity even before the hole was drilled?”

In other words, your valuing is your valuing, even when it might seem you have no capacity for control; it is only your possible actions that are constrained. This is the reverse of how we normally think of such things.

Entry Filed under: Third-wave behavioral therapies - ACT, DBT, etc.