What is Acceptance & Commitment Therapy? 
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) gets its name from one of its core messages: accept what is out of your personal control, and commit to action that improves and enriches your life.  ACT is an evidence based empirically supported psychotherapy. 

The aim of ACT is to maximize human potential for a rich, full and meaningful life. ACT (which is pronounced as the word 'act', not as the initials) does this by:

a) teaching you psychological skills to deal with your painful thoughts and feelings effectively - in such a way that they have much less impact and influence over you (these are known as mindfulness skills).

b) helping you to clarify what is truly important and meaningful to you - i.e your values - then use that knowledge to guide, inspire and motivate you to change your life for the better..

(adapted from Russ Harris, Ph.D.;"ACT Mindfully")

Dr. Qualls'  therapeutic approach blends traditional Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and the more progressive and mindfulness based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. These forms of therapy are solidly evidence-based with with numerous scientifically published positive outcome studies.

Dr. Edward Qualls, Psy.D..

Clinical Psychology - Neuropsychology 

What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) ?
Cognitive-behavioral therapy is based on the idea that our thoughts cause our feelings and behaviors, not external things, like people, situations, and events.  The benefit of this fact is that we can change the way we think to feel / act better even if the situation does not change..

Some forms of therapy assume that the main reason people get better in therapy is because of the positive relationship between the therapist and client.  Cognitive-behavioral therapists believe it is important to have a good, trusting relationship, but that is not enough.  CBT therapists believe that the clients change because they learn how to think differently and they act on that learning.  Therefore, CBT therapists focus on teaching rational self-counseling
skills.

CBT is based on the scientifically supported assumption that most emotional and behavioral reactions are learned.  Therefore, the goal of therapy is to help clients unlearn their unwanted reactions and to learn a new way of reacting.   CBT has nothing to do with "just talking".  People can "just talk" with anyone.

The educational emphasis of CBT has an additional benefit -- it leads to long term results.  When people understand how and why they are doing well, they know what to do to continue doing well.