Assessment

This chapter provides an overview of how to conduct a clinical assessment when doing acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). It outlines the functional basis of ACT as a therapeutic model and its implication: ACT is focused on the effect or purpose of behaviors, rather than their form. The four main areas of assessment covered in this chapter are as follows: (1) how to determine the primary clinical concern; (2) how to determine the functional context maintaining the target behaviors (identified in area 1); (3) how to assess for contextual, historical, or cultural variables that play into the case presentation; and (4) how to set up an ongoing assessment program over the course of treatment.