Acceptance and commitment therapy to alleviate climate-induced psychological distress

Abstract

ABSTRACT The aim of this clinical article is to propose the relevance of the acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) model Hayes, S. C., Villatte, M., Levin, M., & Hildebrandt, M. [2011. Open, aware, and active: Contextual approaches as an emerging trend in the behavioral and cognitive therapies. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 7(1), 141–168. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-032210-104449] to alleviate climate-induced psychological suffering. After a brief introduction establishing the need for climate-informed mental health intervention, the article is divided into three sections. The first section briefly presents ACT, highlighting the six core components of psychological flexibility. The second section provides a discussion to broaden and deepen psychotherapists’ understanding of eco-emotions, particularly eco-anxiety and eco-anger. The third section presents how this framework is relevant to assessing psychological flexibility in the context of climate change, using a hypothetical clinical example partly based on empirical findings.