Precipitants
When looking at the ACT formulation for this client, we can ask, what are the precipitants, what are the things that are precipitating this client’s problems? And we look at it through the lenses of avoidance and control, and of the six core ACT processes. So you can start to map out, what is this client trying to avoid and control through his behavior?
We can see that he was trying to avoid feelings of anxiety, trying to fix or shape himself to meet the socially imposed, idealized, white, Western body image he encountered at college. He was also trying to avoid the guilt he felt about overeating by eating restrictively.