ACT and OCD: What to Expect

Let’s begin talking about how to introduce ACT with your clients.

ACT can be a pretty big shift from what clients expect when they come to therapy. And that can be if they have been in therapy in the past and it has been different than ACT. But also, if someone has never been to treatment before, this might be a little different than what they’re expecting to see. So, it will serve both you and them well to do an introduction of what to expect while they’re going through treatment. And I’m going to walk you through some concepts and ways that I discuss this with my clients.

Twohig, M. P., Hayes, S. C., & Masuda, A. (2006). Increasing willingness to experience obsessions: Acceptance and commitment therapy as a treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder. Behavior Therapy, 37(1), 3–13.,Twohig, M. P., Hayes, S. C., Plumb, J. C., Pruitt, L. D., Collins, A. B., Hazlett-Stevens, H., & Woidneck, M. R. (2010). A randomized clinical trial of acceptance and commitment therapy versus progressive relaxation training for obsessive-compulsive disorder. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 78(5), 705–716.

I talk with them about judging treatment at the end of it. You want them to really commit to doing a course of treatment—a full course of treatment—before they make judgments about whether it was effective for them or not.

Twohig, M. P., Hayes, S. C., & Masuda, A. (2006). Increasing willingness to experience obsessions: Acceptance and commitment therapy as a treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder. Behavior Therapy, 37(1), 3–13.,Twohig, M. P., Hayes, S. C., Plumb, J. C., Pruitt, L. D., Collins, A. B., Hazlett-Stevens, H., & Woidneck, M. R. (2010). A randomized clinical trial of acceptance and commitment therapy versus progressive relaxation training for obsessive-compulsive disorder. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 78(5), 705–716.