Chapter 7 -- Acceptance and commitment theory of depression

Abstract

This chapter presents a theoretical overview of depression from an acceptance and commitment perspective. It also presents an overview of the philosophical-theoretical foundations upon which the acceptance and commitment approach is based, and particularly how an associated conceptual, albeit generic, model of psychological inflexibility and psychopathology can be specifically extended to depression. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is informed by relational frame theory (RFT) as a contextualistic-behavioural account of human language and cognition. An overview of functional contextualism as the philosophical foundation for RFT is provided before coverage of RFT. Critical distinctions between functional contextualism and mechanism can be clarified by summarizing the two positions on the following philosophical issues: the nature of ‘truth’, and the view of behaviour and its causes. This chapter concludes with a conceptual model of depression that, in turn, is derived from how language contributes to psychological rigidity and related human suffering according to RFT.