ACT Hexaflex for Eating Disorders
Acceptance, defusion, presence, self-as-context, values, committed action
The six ACT processes, translated for ED work. Psychological flexibility is what lets a person eat the fear food and go to the party with the uncertainty still turned on — instead of waiting for the anxiety to leave first. It never leaves first.
Making room for hunger, fullness, body sensations, and post-meal distress — instead of fighting or numbing them.
Noticing ED thoughts as thoughts ('I'm having the thought that I ate too much') instead of facts.
Being in the meal, the conversation, the walk — not running food math in the background.
You are the sky, not the weather. You are the one noticing the body — you are not the body's shape.
What kind of person, partner, parent, friend, worker do I want to be — beyond what my body looks like?
Small, values-based behaviors done today — with the ED thoughts still in the room.
You don't wait to feel better — you act, and better follows
ACT doesn't try to remove the ED thoughts. It builds the capacity to carry them and still do the meal, the outfit, the conversation, the life.