Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and humanistic psychotherapy: an integrative approximation

ABSTRACT

This article explores the similarities between humanistic (and existential) psychotherapy, represented here by the ideas of Viktor Frankl, Erich Fromm and Irvin Yalom, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Despite the ongoing dialogue between both therapies during the last decade, regarding both their convergences and divergences, there is a gap in the literature concerning their complementarity in clinical practice. This analysis addresses this gap with the integrative (or pluralistic) clinician in mind, and approximates a theoretical and practical integration anchored upon the transtheoretical model.

KEYWORDS:

• Integrative psychotherapy
• transtheoretical model
• humanistic psychotherapy
• existential psychotherapy
• acceptance and commitment therapy

Acknowledgement

I want to thank the anonymous referees for their critical reading of the manuscript and their constructive feedback, as well as Benen Whitworth, Dr Jacqueline Hayes and Jorge Ollero for their insightful advice.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Regarding the relationship between self-transcendence and spirituality, the interested reader is referred to the works of Frankl (1966), Maslow (Koltko-Rivera, 2006) and Rogers (1980), for a humanistic perspective, and to Hayes (1984, 2002), for a contextual behavioural one.

2 Not to suggest that these ideas are identical, as there are some differences between Rogers’ and Maslow’s approaches to personal growth (see Tudor & Worrall, 2006).

3 Although ACT is not a symptom-focused therapy per se, the intervention is focused (as a contextual therapy) on the (socio-verbal) context (or situation) supporting the symptom.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Pablo Sabucedo

Pablo Sabucedo is a psychologist and psychotherapist. He completed his training between Leiden University (Holland) and the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain), and has practised clinically in several countries. He is currently a visiting lecturer at the University of Roehampton (England).