Uploaded April 2019 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
Relational Frame Theory (RFT) is a groundbreaking, totally unexpected scientific advancement that is the underpinning for ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy). My hope is that this video will make RFT easy for you to understand and how to use it in your practice.
Many people are shocked when they heart ACT is a modern approach to behavior analysis, which makes sense to me: ACT uses words like acceptance and is associated with mindfulness. Often times in describing ACT, the therapeutic approach, they liken ACT to Eastern spirituality. To those new to ACT who came to it as an acceptance and mindfulness approach, the behavioral science comes as a shock.
The latest behavioral science innovations on which RFT is built, relational learning (or conditioning, sometimes called “derived relational responding”), gives evidence that humans, unlike the dogs in Pavlov’s experiments, can make connections that are not easily perceived or apparent. These connections are, in fact, private. Steven Hayes and many other colleagues, including Barnes-Holmes, Brownstein, and Zettle, pioneered RFT’s focus on how language, thoughts, and all other private experiences (cognitive content like thoughts, feelings, sensations, and memories) is something that someone does, and therefore are behaviors (Dymond & Roche, 2013; Hayes, Barnes-Holmes, & Roche, 2001).
As a last nerdy note: I'd argue that if you learn and understanding RFT, you could apply it—creating your own, novel clinical approach, using techniques that you adapt based on what works with the population you're serving.
Get your free acceptance and commitment therapy self-help ebook:
eepurl.com/c9X9jn
Take a look at my online courses, they're low cost and mean a lot every time I make a sale:
thezensocialworker.thinkific.com
All things TZSW:
fb.me/thezensocialworker
instagram.com/zensocialworker
twitter.com/zensocialworker
thezensocialworker.ca
*Disclaimer
1. Conflict of interest: I am an author, I will link to my own books and paid resources as well as use affiliate links. I promise to tell you in videos when I'm being paid (if ever) to advertise during a video.
2. Self help: This channel provides accurate and authoritative information, it is not a substitute for psychotherapy and does not count as a social work service. If you are in need of help, seek out professional services from a licensed healthcare professional.
3. Community: Although this work is my own, I am inspired and supported by a group of clinicians and researchers under the banner of the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science.
Relational Frame Theory (RFT) is a groundbreaking, totally unexpected scientific advancement that is the underpinning for ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy). My hope is that this video will make RFT easy for you to understand and how to use it in your practice.
Many people are shocked when they heart ACT is a modern approach to behavior analysis, which makes sense to me: ACT uses words like acceptance and is associated with mindfulness. Often times in describing ACT, the therapeutic approach, they liken ACT to Eastern spirituality. To those new to ACT who came to it as an acceptance and mindfulness approach, the behavioral science comes as a shock.
The latest behavioral science innovations on which RFT is built, relational learning (or conditioning, sometimes called “derived relational responding”), gives evidence that humans, unlike the dogs in Pavlov’s experiments, can make connections that are not easily perceived or apparent. These connections are, in fact, private. Steven Hayes and many other colleagues, including Barnes-Holmes, Brownstein, and Zettle, pioneered RFT’s focus on how language, thoughts, and all other private experiences (cognitive content like thoughts, feelings, sensations, and memories) is something that someone does, and therefore are behaviors (Dymond & Roche, 2013; Hayes, Barnes-Holmes, & Roche, 2001).
As a last nerdy note: I'd argue that if you learn and understanding RFT, you could apply it—creating your own, novel clinical approach, using techniques that you adapt based on what works with the population you're serving.
Get your free acceptance and commitment therapy self-help ebook:
eepurl.com/c9X9jn
Take a look at my online courses, they're low cost and mean a lot every time I make a sale:
thezensocialworker.thinkific.com
All things TZSW:
fb.me/thezensocialworker
instagram.com/zensocialworker
twitter.com/zensocialworker
thezensocialworker.ca
*Disclaimer
1. Conflict of interest: I am an author, I will link to my own books and paid resources as well as use affiliate links. I promise to tell you in videos when I'm being paid (if ever) to advertise during a video.
2. Self help: This channel provides accurate and authoritative information, it is not a substitute for psychotherapy and does not count as a social work service. If you are in need of help, seek out professional services from a licensed healthcare professional.
3. Community: Although this work is my own, I am inspired and supported by a group of clinicians and researchers under the banner of the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science.
