Anxiety Therapy

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

(ACT) for Anxiety

Learning to Live Fully—Even When Anxiety Is Present

Anxiety is a deeply human experience—one that arises from our nervous systems trying to keep us safe. But when our responses to anxiety become dominated by avoidance, overthinking, or controlling behaviors, we can become stuck in a cycle of suffering.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps you interrupt that cycle. Instead of trying to eliminate anxiety altogether, ACT supports you in making space for difficult emotions, disentangling from anxious thoughts, and reconnecting with your core values—so you can live a life that feels meaningful, even in the presence of discomfort.

ACT teaches that there’s a difference between clean pain (the natural discomfort of life) and dirty pain (the added suffering that comes from resisting or avoiding that discomfort). Through mindfulness, acceptance, and committed action, you can step out of the avoidance loop and toward a more open, flexible relationship with your inner experience.

What Makes ACT Different?

Unlike traditional models that focus on changing thoughts or controlling symptoms, ACT helps you:

  • Acknowledge and accept difficult emotions and thoughts without letting them dictate your behavior.

  • Clarify your values—what matters most to you—and use them as a compass for action.

  • Develop mindfulness and present-moment awareness, so you can respond to anxiety with intention, not reactivity.

  • Build tolerance for discomfort in service of a life that feels more alive and meaningful.

ACT is particularly well-suited for clients who feel stuck in cycles of avoidance, perfectionism, self-criticism, or overthinking—patterns that often reinforce anxiety and restrict life.

ACT's effectiveness is linked to its core mechanism of change:
increased psychological flexibility—
the capacity to stay connected to the present moment while taking meaningful action.

What to Expect

ACT sessions are experiential and collaborative. You can expect:

  • Mindfulness exercises to increase presence and body awareness

  • Values clarification work to align your actions with what truly matters

  • Techniques for noticing, naming, and making space for difficult thoughts and emotions

  • Practical skills for stepping out of avoidance and toward meaningful action

Rather than promising that anxiety will disappear, ACT helps you stop struggling with it, and start living around it.

Ready to Loosen Anxiety’s Grip?

If anxiety has been making your world feel smaller, ACT offers a way to open back up.

You don’t have to wait for fear to go away before you start living with intention.

Anxiety We Work With

Our clinicians use ACT to support clients navigating:

  • Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

  • Panic attacks and panic disorder

  • Social anxiety and performance fears

  • Health anxiety

  • Existential anxiety and uncertainty intolerance

  • OCD-related patterns (in conjunction with exposure-based work)

  • Postpartum anxiety

  • Trauma-related anxiety when paired with somatic or IFS work