Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a form of counselling that helps people respond skilfully to cravings and difficult emotions instead of fighting or being ruled by them.
Plain English
Patient-Friendly Explanation
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, is a type of counselling built on a simple idea: struggling to control thoughts, cravings and uncomfortable feelings often makes them stronger, while learning to make room for them frees you to act on what you value. In weight management, that means noticing a food craving or a stressful feeling without automatically eating over it, then choosing behaviour that matches your deeper goals — such as health, energy or family — rather than the urge of the moment. ACT is used alongside practical diet and activity guidance, and research shows it can improve weight outcomes and, importantly, help people keep weight off and eat less emotionally. It is delivered by trained psychologists or counsellors.
Medical
Clinical Definition
ACT is a third-wave cognitive behavioural therapy that targets psychological flexibility — the ability to contact the present moment fully and to persist or change behaviour in the service of chosen values — rather than attempting to control or suppress internal experiences. In obesity care it addresses the well-documented role of experiential avoidance, emotional eating and food-cue reactivity, where suppression attempts paradoxically amplify craving-driven behaviour. Randomised trials (for example Forman and Lillis groups) show acceptance-based interventions produce weight losses comparable to standard behavioural treatment with superior longer-term maintenance and reduced eating disinhibition, and ACT is also effective for weight stigma-related distress. It is typically delivered over 8–12 structured sessions by trained practitioners and complements medical and dietary components of a weight-management programme.
Key Insight
Why It Matters
For patients whose eating is driven by stress, boredom or difficult emotions, another diet plan is rarely the answer. If that pattern is present in your consultation, we can connect you with psychological support using approaches like ACT to build a calmer, more sustainable relationship with food.
Sources
Reviewed against standard medical references.
Medically reviewed by
Family Physician & Registered Acupuncturist, Accord Medical Clinic. MBBS (NUS), Graduate Diploma in Family Medicine (NUS), Graduate Diploma in Acupuncture (Singapore College of TCM).
Last reviewed: September 2026
This page is general health education, not medical advice. Whether any treatment is appropriate for you is a decision made in consultation after assessment.
