Adaptive Reorientation Training and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Unifying a Neo-Adlerian Approach With New Wave Behavioral Therapy

Abstract:Individual Psychology is one of the most practical therapeutic modalities developed during the early 20th century. Adler’s emphasis on insight and developing pragmatic behavioral strategies to align with goal orientations has made its way back around in the evidence-based community with the recent development of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT; Hayes et al., 1999). Adaptive reorientation training (ART; Rasmussen, 2015, 2021) has expanded Adler’s original therapy to include elements of evolutionary-based cognitive and behavioral elements that effectively unify these disparate traditions. This article demonstrates how the essential elements of adaptive awareness, reorientation, and skill-specific training in ART can be parallel to the ACT core processes and how the similarities between these frameworks can be used in conjunction to facilitate cohesion among these traditions.