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OME of us carry so much mental baggage that we struggle to function — like feeling so anxious about a confrontation at work that we just stay at home. A new form of therapy can help deal with such difficulties, allowing us to improve our daily experience — and get to work — says clinical psychologist Daniel Rabinowitz.

He says there is a way to deal with the ongoing battles in our heads that arise from something in the past but continue to bother us in the present.

“Acceptance and commitment therapy is a solution to changing your relationship with the painful thoughts and feelings that are holding you back from improving your life,” says Rabinowitz.

As the name says, the aim of the therapy is to accept the reality of difficult thoughts or emotions, and to commit to doing something about them.

“This form of therapy helps you to identify negative and unhealthy modes of thinking,” he says.

Applying the principles of the therapy throughout your day-to-day life will help you to create “a healthier, richer and more meaningful existence” for yourself and better relationships with others.

Rabinowitz says acceptance and commitment therapy, closely related to cognitive behavioural therapy, is evidencebased and uses mindfulness combined with commitment and behaviour-changing strategies. This helps people increase their “psychological flexibility” in both their personal and professional lives.

Rabinowitz says this form of therapy is steadily gaining ground in the UK and elsewhere around the world and falls into what is known as the “third wave” of behavioural therapies.

“Steven C Hayes, a professor in the department of psychology at the University of Nevada, Reno, is known for his work on acceptance and commitment therapy.

“He describes these types of therapies as grounded in an empirical, principlefocused approach, which means they are particularly sensitive to the context and functions of psychological issues, not just their form.”

The emphasis is on how to react to negative experiences.

“Acceptance and commitment techniques show you not only how to change your thoughts and feelings, but how to change your relationship to them, that is, loosening up around them to engage in value-based action. This is especially important for those who struggle with anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression,” he says. LS

ACT is offered at Cape Behaviour Therapists. To book or to refer a patient for any mental health service, contact Tertia Janse van Rensburg on 021 433 1721, or e-mail reception@medpractice.com.