Can ACT Help You Break Free from Anxiety and Stress?

Anxiety and stress are overwhelming, often leaving you feeling stuck in a cycle of overthinking and avoidance. Many people try to fight or suppress these emotions, only to find they become even more powerful. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) offers a different path—one that focuses on making peace with anxiety instead of trying to eliminate it.

How ACT Approaches Anxiety and Stress

Rather than aiming to control or suppress anxious thoughts, ACT helps you build psychological flexibility—the ability to experience discomfort without letting it dictate your life. Through a combination of mindfulness, acceptance, and values-based action, ACT enables you to engage with life fully, even in the presence of stress.

Key ACT Techniques for Managing Anxiety

1. Cognitive Defusion – Instead of getting caught up in anxious thoughts, ACT helps you see them as passing mental events rather than absolute truths. A thought like, “I can’t handle this,” becomes “I notice that I am having the thought that I can’t handle this.” This small shift creates distance and reduces its impact.
2. Acceptance – Anxiety often worsens when we fight it. ACT teaches you to allow anxious feelings to exist without judgment, giving you the space to focus on what truly matters.
3. Present-Moment Awareness – Anxiety pulls you into a spiral of what-ifs and worst-case scenarios. ACT encourages mindfulness, helping you return to the here and now, where you have control over your actions.
4. Values-Based Action – Fear often keeps people from doing what’s important to them. ACT shifts the focus from avoiding discomfort to moving toward what you value, whether that’s relationships, creativity, or personal growth.

A New Way to Approach Anxiety

ACT doesn’t promise to erase anxiety, but it offers a way to stop it from controlling your life. By learning to accept your emotions and take meaningful action despite them, you can break free from the cycle of stress and live with greater ease and purpose.

If anxiety has been holding you back, ACT might be the approach that finally helps you move forward. Let’s explore how you can apply these principles today.

If you’re in Wyoming or California and looking for convenient, telehealth psychotherapy, we offer hour-long sessions to help you navigate life’s challenges. Additionally, we provide international coaching through Bowen Family Systems, a powerful approach to understanding relational patterns, reducing anxiety, and fostering deeper self-awareness. Reach out to learn more.