Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) in Los Angeles

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What Brings People to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

You know the routine. The thought arrives. You argue with it, push it away, distract yourself, or check whether it's really true. Sometimes that works for an hour. Sometimes a day. Then the thought comes back, and the loop runs again. Over time, the methods for managing the problem grow bigger than the problem itself: the avoidance, the checking, the rehearsing, the talking yourself in and out of things, the late-night planning to get tomorrow right. It started as a thought or a feeling. Now it's a way of organizing your day.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) starts somewhere different. Thoughts and feelings aren't the enemy, and you don't have to eliminate them to live the life you want. The work is learning a new relationship with them while you move toward what you actually care about.

How ACT Therapy Works in Session at Our Los Angeles Practice

Your first session or two go toward understanding what you've been struggling against and what you've been pulled away from.

The treatment moves on a few intertwined tracks. Cognitive defusion is learning to notice your thoughts as thoughts rather than as commands or facts, the difference between 'I am a failure' and 'I'm having the thought that I am a failure.' Acceptance is making room for difficult feelings instead of organizing your life around avoiding them. Values work gets specific about what you want your life to be about, including the domains where the struggle has blurred the direction. Committed action builds concrete steps in those directions, sized to what's doable this week. Most sessions move between these tracks rather than treating them as separate stages.

You and your psychologist use brief weekly questionnaires and session-by-session ratings to track changes in psychological flexibility and overall functioning. If the work isn't shifting by week four or five, the plan changes.

Acceptance and commitment therapy for most people at CBT LA runs twelve to twenty weekly sessions, depending on the complexity of the work. The therapy builds a working set of skills for the moments your mind gives you trouble, and a clearer sense of where you want your time and energy to go.

If ACT sounds like a closer fit than what you've tried before, the 15-minute call is built to test that.

Free 15-minute consultation. No pressure to schedule.

What to Expect

Sessions are 50 minutes, weekly to start. You can meet your psychologist in person at our Brentwood office on Wilshire Boulevard, in our Pasadena office on South Marengo, or by telehealth from anywhere in California. Evening slots are available with most clinicians. ACT often integrates with other cognitive-behavioral treatments (CBT, ERP, or CBT-I) in the same course of therapy when the need calls for it. Between-session practice is part of the work: noticing thoughts as thoughts, making space for feelings instead of avoiding them, and taking small concrete steps toward what matters to you.

CBTLos Angeles is out-of-network. If you have PPO insurance, your plan likely reimburses 50 to 80 percent of the fee through the superbill we provide. We accept HSA and FSA. T

Your first contact is a free 15-minute phone call. We'll ask what you're hoping ACT will help with, then match you with the psychologist whose specialty fits your specific needs.

Why Choose CBT LA for Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Los Angeles

Doctoral psychologists trained in ACT, not CBT-with-mindfulness

Every clinician at Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Los Angeles holds a doctorate in clinical psychology. Our Los Angeles psychologists have specific training in ACT therapy, including some who supervise graduate students and postgraduate trainees in ACT. ACT looks deceptively simple in self-help books. A clinician who hasn't trained in the model can deliver a watered-down version that resembles CBT-with-mindfulness rather than ACT itself. Doctoral training builds the depth the model requires.

ACT integrated with other modalities when the presentation calls for it

Many people who come for ACT have a primary issue (anxiety, OCD, depression, chronic pain, grief, life transitions) that benefits from ACT plus another evidence-based approach. We can deliver ACT alone, or ACT integrated with CBT, ERP, CBT-I, or Behavioral Activation, depending on what your situation calls for. We base the integration on what each modality actually does best for you rather than on what the clinician happens to know.

Measurement at every session

Brief weekly questionnaires and session ratings track changes in the goals you and your psychologist set. The numbers show whether the work is moving. If they stall, the plan changes.

If you aren't sure whether ACT alone or ACT integrated with another modality is the right starting point, the consultation call is where to figure it out.

Start with a no-obligation call.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is ACT actually different from CBT, or is it CBT with mindfulness?

Different. CBT focuses on changing the content of thoughts and the behavior that follows them. ACT focuses on changing your relationship to thoughts and feelings, whatever their content. Both are evidence-based. Many of our clinicians use both, sometimes in the same person's treatment, when beneficial.

How is ACT different from mindfulness apps or meditation?

Mindfulness is one of several skills used in ACT, not the whole treatment. ACT also includes cognitive defusion, acceptance, and values work, structured in a therapy protocol with weekly progress tracking. Apps can help but rarely suffice for solving the problem entirely. ACT is the treatment; mindfulness is one piece.

Does ACT work for OCD?

Yes, especially alongside exposure with response prevention (ERP). In addition to its well-researched effectiveness with most psychological challenges, ACT helps with the fight-the-thought pattern that fuels OCD compulsions. Most of our OCD work leads with ERP and folds in ACT processes as the therapy progresses.

What does the first session look like?

Your psychologist spends most of the first session understanding what you've been struggling against, what you've been pulled away from, and what you'd like your life to be more about. You leave with at least one specific thing to notice or a skill to try before the next session.

What if ACT is not the right fit for what I am dealing with?

We'll tell you on the consultation call and point you to the right approach, possibly a different modality, possibly a different provider. Active safety concerns may need a higher level of care than outpatient ACT. We'd rather start you off on the right foot than start treatment that isn't a fit.

Start with a free 15-minute call

If you’re thinking about trying ACT either because the approach speaks to you or because nothing else has quite landed, the 15-minute consultation is the quickest way to find out whether it's the right next step. We'll listen, answer what you want answered, and match you with the right doctoral psychologist for acceptance and commitment therapy at our Bretwood, Pasadena, or California telehealth practice. No charge, and no obligation to schedule anything else.

If ACT isn't the right fit, we'll tell you that too, and we'll help you find what is.

The hardest part is the first call. It takes just a few minutes.

Medically Reviewed by Albert Bonfil, PsyD
Updated June 2026.