ACT as an Evidence-Based Approach for Adolescent Treatment
Teens often find themselves wrestling with emotions much bigger than they are. Worries about fitting in, anxiety about group speaking, or depression from feeling isolated are all very real, very big feelings. Whether mental health or the stress of friendships and school, teens and parents may feel powerless.
So, how does Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) benefit young people? Its core principles focus on recognizing emotional symptoms, then taking their power away. Your teen learns to act on personal values, even when they feel stuck by fear, anxiety, or depression. ACT lets them feel more empowered in life.
At Artemis Adolescent Healing Center, ACT is just one of the evidence-based tools that we use to help teens like yours build resilience, reduce suffering, and create meaningful change.
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What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for Teens?
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is for kids and teens who struggle with painful thoughts, emotions, and life challenges. These might be caused by mental health problems or substance abuse. Or, they could just be a normal part of growing up.
ACT focuses on helping teens observe negative feelings and emotions. They don’t have to act on them, instead choosing actions that support their values and future well-being. This shift in mindset is empowering. It leads to significant differences in the way teens manage emotions.
A Look at ACT in Practice
You might wonder what this looks like across different age groups. Imagine your teen has anxiety so bad that speaking in front of a group terrifies them. Any time there’s a class presentation, they skip class or fake being sick.
During ACT, your kid’s therapist would help them practice cognitive defusion. They recognize the thought of “Everyone will laugh at me” and that it comes from fear of not doing well academically.
Clinical practice teaches them that the next step is to take action. Instead of skipping class, your teen would practice the presentation with a parent, their therapist, and then a small group to be prepared.
Does this make the anxiety disappear? No. But ACT teaches your teen to step forward anyway. It offers a path toward a meaningful life.
Is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Good for Individual or Group Counseling?
ACT can be used for young people in individual and group therapy sessions. It can be used by itself or with other therapeutic tools, depending on your child’s goals for mental health care.
The positive therapeutic relationship your teen finds in individual therapy lets them have a safe space to explore thoughts and feelings. They find a nuanced understanding of internal experiences and how they affect thoughts and feelings. Sessions can help with identity formation and understanding one’s values.
During group-based acceptance and commitment therapy, teens participate in similar experiential exercises with other young people. Mental health professionals facilitate these groups.
Often, both types of therapy are recommended for treating teens. In group treatment, hearing peers discuss similar challenges reduces shame and builds a sense of community. Individual sessions help young adults deepen personal insight and put committed action into practice.
How Does ACT Fit Within Contextual Behavioral Science?
The ACT approach comes from the contextual behavioral science field. Essentially, the goal is understanding behaviors and how they are influenced by someone’s environment, history, and goals.
Your child’s therapist isn’t asking, “What’s wrong with this teen?” They’re asking, “How are their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors working for them?”
The core goal is shifting from fixing a problem to helping young people adapt to challenges. They stay connected to their personal values. Like in the example, even with anxiety, your teen could stay connected to their desire to do well in school. Then, they take actionable steps by leaning on that goal.
What Are the Six Core Processes of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy?
Each of ACT’s core processes teaches a skill. They don’t have to be done in any specific order, but when woven together, these skills boost your teen’s psychological flexibility. This means they make it easier to adapt to their struggles, whether mental health challenges, social stress, substance abuse, or something else.
What is Cognitive Defusion?
It’s easy for your teen to get caught up in their thoughts. They may not have the confidence to challenge their thoughts, so they believe every worry, self-criticism, or anxious idea that they have is true. This practice is similar to traditional cognitive behavioral therapy.
By learning cognitive defusion, your teen learns to recognize their thoughts without letting them be in control. For example, thinking “I’ll never make friends.” Once your teen recognizes this thought, they tell themselves, “I’m having the thought that I’ll never make friends.” Framing it this way takes power away from that thought in the present moment.
How Acceptance Makes Room for Difficult Emotions
Have you ever noticed that your teen suppresses their emotions? Even when they seem “off”, they usually won’t share with their parents. During ACT, your teen will learn acceptance. There’s space for negative thoughts and feelings, but they learn they don’t have to act on them.
Accepting these emotions doesn’t mean that they like them or approve of them. But it does give their emotions room to exist. Your teen doesn’t have to fight against them as hard. Eventually, learning to accept emotions reduces their distress and makes room for coping skills that support your teen’s mental health.
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How Does Mindfulness Help Teens?
Mindfulness places emphasis on the present moment. Instead of allowing your teen’s mind to race about something they did earlier in the day or worrying about the future, it keeps them grounded.
Mindfulness helps your teen feel calmer and experience less anxiety. It’s also a useful tool for taking a pause. Your teen has time to respond thoughtfully, not impulsively, and gains a sense of control.
What Does Self-as-Context Mean?
Self-as-context can help your teen see beyond labels. Adolescence is full of questions about identity. After all, your teen finally has the independence to learn who they are outside of their family unit.
It’s normal for teens to feel defined by labels. Your son or daughter might think of themselves as “shy”, “troubled”, “anxious”, or “depressed”. ACT aims to help teens realize their identity goes beyond their struggles. They start to see themselves with compassion, which helps them find resilience for the hard parts of life.
Why Values Matter for Teenagers
There’s a big emphasis on core values with acceptance and commitment therapy. Essentially, these values are the qualities that matter the most for your teen. They might explore questions like, “What kind of friend do I want to be?” or “What matters the most to me at school?”
As your teen starts understanding what he or she wants, they work in therapy to align their behaviors with their values. This does a lot for confidence and helps your teen find their personality. Their values provide a valuable international motivation and a clear direction, even when sticking to their values isn’t easy.
Committed Action: Turning Values Into Real Steps
Once your teen is aware of their values, they can commit to them. This happens through action. Your teen takes steps guided by those values.
For example, showing up to class when they’re anxious, being honest in friendships, or joining an activity that aligns with their personal goals, even if they’re worried about what their friends might think. Through committed action, the insight your teen finds in therapy turns into real-world progress.
How Do ACT Interventions Support Teen Mental Health?
ACT is more than theory. The ACT principles are practical steps that give your teen control over negative thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. By putting them into practice, these core processes make your teen more resilient to life.
Mindfulness creates space between emotion and reaction, while cognitive defusion helps your teen step away from harmful thoughts. They don’t have to feel consumed by what’s going on in their head.
Following acceptance, children and adolescents hone in on what matters most to them with values clarification. This lets them use their values as an essential guide, dictating the next steps they take in life. Your teen leaves ACT sessions feeling empowered, knowing they are no longer defined by their mental health symptoms.
How Does ACT Help Teens Living with Chronic Pain?
Chronic pain goes beyond what happens to your teen’s physical health. It comes with very real emotions and feelings of powerlessness. ACT won’t make chronic pain disappear, but doing therapeutic work can reduce suffering.
ACT teaches teens with chronic pain to accept discomfort and focus on what they actually have control over. This is helpful because it relieves that sense of powerlessness. It helps your teen find activities that they can do that bring meaning and enjoyment to life, even with medical challenges.
How Does ACT Build Resilience in Young Adults?
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) isn’t a quick fix. It builds lasting resilience and improves your child’s overall quality of life. Your teen doesn’t feel overwhelmed by the challenges or difficult emotions they face.
They find the confidence to make decisions that support their future and well-being, even outside the walls of therapy.
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Support Your Teen Through the ACT Process at Artemis
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy won’t make your teen’s struggles disappear, but they will improve psychological flexibility to deal with them. ACT gives your teen a path forward, no matter what is going on in life.
At Artemis Healing Center in Tucson, our team uses ACT with a holistic approach to help teens build confidence, improve mental health, and commit to a meaningful life. Reach out today. It can be the first step toward a brighter, more balanced future.
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