Terapia de Aceptación y Compromiso aplicada a la esquizofrenia. Estado actual y direcciones futuras

Abstract

This paper provides a critical and reconstructive vision of Acceptation and Commitment Therapy (ACT) applied to psychotic symptoms. Taking into account that the therapy was based on transdiagnostical conceptions, it was not difficult to expand the scope of the treatment to psychotic symptoms; with experimental, conceptual, and clinical reasons that supported this extension. The article analyzes and explains the standard procedure of ACT, illustrating, when possible, with vignettes. Each of the phases of the Therapy are summarized and adapted to the peculiarities of psychotic patients. Also a review of the results of the therapy is exposed, highlighting the difficulties found for its application and, in general, the loss of solid results compared with other less sophisticated interventions. The final part of the paper presents several proposals for the future, aimed at improving the therapy. The first one could be to reformulate the concept of schizophrenia as a disorder of the “self”. The second proposal for the future could be adapt ACT to the Spanish culture, with José Ortega y Gasset as a reference for this task.