This chapter provides a practical overview of how clinicians can develop individualized case formulations within Acceptance and Commitment Therapy using a contextual behavioral framework. Rather than organizing cases around diagnostic categories or assumed internal disorders, the chapter emphasizes understanding behavior in relation to historical and situational contexts, verbal processes, reinforcement contingencies, and patterns of psychological flexibility or rigidity. The authors describe case conceptualization in ACT as an ongoing functional analytic process focused on identifying how individuals become entangled with thoughts, emotions, self-stories, avoidance patterns, and ineffective rule-governed behavior that limit movement toward personally meaningful action. Central ACT processes such as cognitive fusion, experiential avoidance, attachment to conceptualized self, lack of values clarity, and behavioral inflexibility are framed as interacting dimensions that can guide assessment and intervention planning.
Related Domains: Committed Action
Citations: Stanton, C. E., Sanford, B. T., Law, S. M., Chin, F., Smith, P., Ragsdale, J., Ta, J., & Hayes, S. C. (2019). Case conceptualization in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in P. L. dos Santos, J. P. Gouveia, M. da Silva Oliveira, & J. Pistorello (Eds.). International ACT practical handbook. Porto Allegro, RS, Brazil: Sinopsis.