Eva Rustad from Bemerk is certified ACT therapist, and bases her work on this form of therapy. At the same time, she overlaps with methods from other therapeutic directions where she sees that it can benefit the client.
The therapy is classified as a 3rd generation cognitive behavioral therapy and has a solid and growing empirical foundation that supports the effectiveness of the treatment. ACT therapeutic method has proven effective in the treatment of, for example, anxiety, depression, stress-related conditions, grief, OCD, PTSD, phobias, and many other mental disorders.
As humans, we will experience psychological pain and suffering. A life without pain would be very unusual. Yet we tend to fight against pain and discomfort and have the attitude that it cannot be tolerated. This tendency is reinforced by the fact that we live in a culture that alienates human pain and discomfort as something that has arisen by mistake and must be removed. In our culture, joy and well-being are emphasized as normal and as the most 'edible' to present to others. The discomfort can be, for example, unpleasant bodily sensations, emotions, painful memories or self-critical thoughts and judgments.
A struggle against discomfort can manifest itself as a constant, grinding attention to the problem, as fear and worry, or an all-consuming escape to avoid what feels uncomfortable. Life then becomes about fighting the discomfort away. Suddenly we have two problems: the discomfort itself and the demanding battle against discomfort. We can feel as if we are accomplishing nothing of importance, and everyday life becomes hard to get through. But perhaps most importantly, our focus is taken away from what has value for us, what gives us a sense of meaning and vitality, what can give us desire and joy. When we end up on this sidetrack, life can feel meaningless.
ACT therapy is an experience-based working method in psychology.
In ACT therapy, you will be introduced to an experience-based working method, i.e. you will do exercises that let you feel, notice and experience instead of having something explained only in words. You will also do concrete exercises to get used to being in the discomfort instead of running away from it.
Through well-founded ACT methods, one can be helped in the direction of what is important to one and what gives meaning to life. This requires one to practice accepting some of the discomfort that life inevitably offers, the things we cannot change. But just as central are the concrete actions here and now, the things we actually can do to move us towards the life we want to live. Therefore, we will gradually shift our attention, commitment and energy away from the struggle and towards the valuable actions that can create lasting change in our lives.
