ACT vs CBT: My Experiences With Both Types of Therapy

Ok, here is the entry I promised in my "Helpful Resources" entry. Let me start out by defining ACT and CBT.

ACT stands for Acceptance Commitment Therapy. The idea is to use mindfulness and acceptance to deal with things like anxiety issues and eating disorders. You identify the action or situation that is difficult for you, you accept that it will be difficult, and then you do the "right thing" anyway. You identify the things that you value, and you focus on moving towards those values.

For example, I have decided that I value my friends and my friends ask me if I want to go bowling. However, I know there will probably be pizza there and ice cream afterwards. I am nervous about the pizza and ice cream. I still go bowling with my friends though because that is what I value. I am nervous, AND I eat pizza and ice cream. I acknowledge my nervousness, don't fight the uncomfortable feelings, and then act on what I value.

ACT was what my first Psychiatrist used, and she was a total believer. She talked about all the research that was out there to support it in it's use of treating eating disorders. She said it helped her personally with anxiety issues. I however, was not as much of a fan. I often felt invalidated, like my negative emotions didn't matter and were just being pushed to the side, and like the idea was I was just going to be feeling crappy for the rest of my life and doing things I didn't want to do. I wanted to enjoy life!

Fast forward through the summer to the school year when I changed to another therapist who worked on CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy). This looks at emotions, thought processes, AND behaviors, to try and correct incorrect thinking and incorrect behavior. It addresses the emotional as well as the behavioral. Some examples of CBT exercises include challenging your thoughts and talking to your disorder to question it's truth, and addressing issues like black and white thinking, over generalization, "mind reading" (jumping to conclusions about what other people think or feel. I am guilty of this one.) control fallacies, and "should"s (I should or ought to do this. Also guilty). Behavioral goals are also set throughout the week.

I am definitely more of a fan of this therapy. That may also be because I like my therapist better though. She used to have an ED, so she understands when I say certain things and she doesn't pass judgement. And it addresses the fact that I feel bad and struggle with self harm, suicidal ideation, and self hate, whereas I felt ACT was telling me to just "get over it and do it anyway."

Now, don't get me wrong, everyone's different and what works for one doesn't always work for the other. I'm not bashing on ACT and saying it's horrible. There is research out there to support it and a lot of success stories. It simply wasn't for me.

As for other types of eating disorder therapies, I can't say because I haven't experienced them. But that is a little about the ones I have been through and am working on and my opinions of them and experiences with them.