Hayes first works with Jerry, a man suffering from significant social anxiety who has very little access to his emotions. Using the concept of creative hopelessness, he helps Jerry drop into his feelings and sensations and begin to more deeply engage in the work of therapy.

You’ll get to watch several ACT therapists demonstrate techniques and interventions used in the opening stages of therapy with a variety of clients, including a young mother struggling with anxiety and depression, a teacher with panic disorder and a woman who suffers from chronic pain. Offering commentary throughout, Hayes illustrates the key concepts of ACT as they are unfolding moment-to-moment in these riveting therapy sessions.

Watch later volumes of this ACT in Action series to learn the many techniques that support the ACT principles of mindfulness, acceptance, cognitive defusion, valued living, and others.