Willingness, Acceptance, and Defusion in ACT for PTSD
Booz Allen
Department of Veterans Affairs
Yale University
University of Nevada, Reno
Key Points
- Willingness is a process of choosing to experience private events without defense in the service of a valued life.
- To move toward psychological flexibility, increase willingness to experience the full range of private events.
- Defusion is a process of undermining the dominance of the literal strength of thoughts and verbal content over behavior.
Materials Downloads
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Transcript
So here are some take-home messages on willingness and defusion.
Willingness is a process in which an individual chooses to experience his or her own private events without defense in the service of moving forward with a valued life. This process is differentiated from tolerating, wanting, or wallowing in those experiences. The hard work of willingness becomes meaningful and is dignified because it is in the service of something important, building a life worth living, rather than remaining stuck.
For clients to move toward psychological flexibility and workable life choices, they may need to work on increasing willingness to experience the full range of private events in the service of valued life directions.