Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to Facilitate Positive Body Image and Embodiment

Abstract

Contemporary scholarship seeks to give increased attention to identifying and evaluating treatment modalities that may be useful in enhancing more positive forms of embodiment. In this context, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) offers a promising approach to shift disrupted embodiment into a more embodied connection and engaged living via strengthening a range of interrelated embodied flexibility processes. This chapter is designed to address the following aims: (a) to propose a heuristic model integrating the conceptual foundations of ACT and embodiment; (b) to provide a clinical case illustrating the potential benefits of applying ACT strategies in the context of embodiment; (c) to offer a brief overview of select empirical studies applying ACT in the domains of body image, weight-related acceptance and stigmatization, eating, and physical activity; and (d) to briefly consider the strengths and limitations of this emerging evidence base to serve as a springboard for future research to pursue.