Basic Brief Therapy Principles

ACT Brief Intervention Principles
	•	Establish a single entry point
	•	Pull the patient outside the normal frame of reference
	•	The “problem” is not the problem; the “solution” is the problem
	•	Emphasize acceptance of the ongoing stream of experience while behaving differently
	•	Get the patient to “own” the need for and ability to change from negative to positive momentum
	•	Focus on increasing positive behaviors, rather than on eliminating negative behaviors
	•	Encourage limited, specific behavior change
	•	Normalize and validate “toxic” private events that are the natural sequelae of being alive
	•	Reframe the issue from “whether to” to “how to” experience what is there to be experienced
	•	Emphasize approach toward rather than retreat from response ableness
	•	Use spontaneous contact with mindfulness to help patient see an alternative
	•	Get the patient to “stand for something”
	•	Focus on small, value consistent actions

13 ACT-consistent questions to ask in brief sessions
	1.	Is there anything in front of you here that you are not big enough to have?
	2.	What if the goal were not to feel good, but to feel it good?
	3.	Are you having this? Or is it having you?
	4.	Looks like the more you try to control this thing, the more uncontrollable it becomes. What about just letting it be what it is?
	5.	What would make what you are going through here honorable, legitimate and purposeful?
	6.	You don’t have to do this perfectly—just get from point A to point B.
	7.	What do you think life is trying to teach you here?
	8.	Is there anything about how you’re feeling, right here, right now that you would not be willing to feel?
	9.	What do you want to stand for here?
	10.	What will make you feel like you’ve grown as a human being when this situation is done?
	11.	It sounds like your mind is telling you to do things that your experience says doesn’t work.
	12.	If you were free to choose how to respond here, what would you like to do?
	13.	Is there anything standing in the way of you and what you want to be about here?