Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a behavioral therapy that is based on Relational Frame Theory, a theory of how human language influences experience and behavior. ACT aims to change the relationship individuals have with their own thoughts, feelings, memories, and physical sensations that are feared or avoided. Acceptance and mindfulness strategies are used to teach patients to decrease avoidance, attachment to cognitions, and increase focus on the present. Patients learn to clarify their goals and values and to commit to behavioral change strategies. This treatment has been applied to a number of conditions, including psychosis.
By design ACT for psychosis does not directly target reduction of psychosis symptoms; rather, ACT aims to improve the ability to cope with psychotic symptoms and to reduce distress associated with psychotic symptoms.