Intervention Techniques & Strategies Flashcards
7 cards from real ACT practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Intervention Techniques & Strategies flashcards as text
A client with chronic pain repeatedly avoids activities he once loved, believing he must be pain-free before enjoying life. Which ACT intervention directly targets this experiential avoidance?
Answer: Using creative hopelessness to highlight the costs of avoidance
Creative hopelessness exposes the futility of control/avoidance strategies, motivating openness to a values-based approach instead.
Which metaphor is most appropriate for illustrating how fused thoughts pull a client away from present-moment engagement?
Answer: The Passengers on the Bus metaphor
The Passengers on the Bus metaphor shows how fused thoughts (passengers) can hijack the client's direction if allowed to control behavior.
A therapist asks a client to imagine their thoughts as clouds passing across the sky. This technique primarily targets which ACT process?
Answer: Defusion
Observing thoughts as transient clouds is a classic defusion technique that reduces literal believability of thought content.
In ACT, the 'Two Scales' metaphor is used to explain which therapeutic concept to clients?
Answer: The relationship between symptom reduction and willingness
The Two Scales metaphor contrasts an anxiety scale (uncontrollable) with a willingness scale (fully controllable), reframing treatment goals.
A client says, 'I know my thoughts are just thoughts, but I still feel paralyzed.' Which next ACT intervention step is most indicated?
Answer: Move to committed action planning linked to values
When defusion is established but action is blocked, linking movement to values via committed action planning is the next step.
Which intervention would an ACT therapist use to help a client experience the self as a stable observer rather than the content of their struggles?
Answer: The Observer Self exercise (noticing 'I notice I am having...')
The Observer Self exercise cultivates self-as-context by training the client to notice experiences from a stable observing perspective.
When using the 'Struggle Switch' metaphor in ACT, what is the therapist primarily communicating?
Answer: Struggling against unwanted inner experiences amplifies their intensity
The Struggle Switch metaphor illustrates that turning on the 'struggle' against emotions adds a layer of suffering on top of the original pain.