Teams are often comfortable providing supportive therapy, but more formal, theory-driven therapeutic interventions can often benefit many individuals with severe mental illness. Empirically supported therapeutic interventions are necessary to address common problems ACT service recipients present, such as anxiety, depression, grief, poor emotion regulation, ineffective interpersonal skills, delusions, low self-esteem, and trauma symptoms.
Such interventions include, for example, cognitive behavioral therapy to address cognitive distortions and misinterpretation of social cues, which is especially common among individuals with paranoia; relaxation skills, such as breathing exercises; mindfulness interventions; trauma therapy, often needed given the high rate of abuse experienced by this clinical population; exposure therapy to address anxiety; dialectical behavior therapy to address emotional instability and interpersonal problems; and family therapy to address interpersonal conflicts and reduce expressed emotion, which may stem from a family’s own stress and/or poor understanding of a loved one’s mental illness. Motivational interviewing or enhancement therapy is also a core evidence-based practice essential to working with individuals to resolve ambivalence and build more intrinsic motivation to change problematic behaviors.
It is important that the whole team be well trained in the basics of motivational interviewing, cognitive behavioral treatment, and trauma-informed care, as well as receive refresher training on the basics of psychotic symptoms and related cognitive impairments. Ideally, team therapists receive further training in CBT for psychosis, empirically supported trauma treatments (e.g., Seeking Safety), and the fundamentals of dialectical behavior therapy. Typically, the ACT Team Leader is one of the more clinically sophisticated team members and delivers some of the therapy within the team.
Learn More about empirically-supported therapies that may be relevant to those receiving ACT services through these resources.