The ACT Matrix on This View of Life

Stuart Libman explains the ACT matrix beautifully in this podcast

David Sloan Wilson has an amazing podcast and website called This View Of Life.

In a recent episode he had on Stuart Libman, MD, who uses the ACT Matrix in his practice. He explained the matrix so beautifully that it puts me to shame! Definitely a great way of demonstrating it to someone.

You can check out the video below. The matrix talk starts about 25 minutes into this presentation.

The only thing I would add to this presentation is that the dialogue implies that toward moves are more workable, or flexible than away moves, and as such are preferable. This kind of thinking is ultimately not helpful for practicing clinicians at it can lead us to push clients toward toward moves. A more flexible way of thinking about toward and away moves is that they can both be workable and unworkable depending on the context. Work is done with clients to help them analyze the function of their away moves and toward moves, with the added layer of values as the indicator of success. In this way we approximate more and more workable away moves and toward moves.

You can think of away moves as actions that clients are doing to survive the moment, and toward moves as actions clients are doing to achieve a more vital life. Everything we do with clients is to help them survive the moment better, while achieving a more vital and purposeful life.

The way we can do this is by applying the principles of evolution to the toward side and away side by varying the actions engaged in (trying new things), selecting the actions that work best, and retaining these more workable actions. Then doing the same across different dimensions and levels, in context.

Respectfully Submitted,

Jacob Martinez // Through The ACT Matrix