Flexibility vs. Psychological Rigidity

Psychological rigidity as the root of psychopathology

From the ACT perspective, most psychological disorders are not "illnesses" in the traditional medical sense, but manifestations of the same root cause: psychological rigidity.

Rigidity occurs when our behaviors are driven exclusively by old verbal rules, fears, or avoidance attempts, rather than being adapted to what the present situation requires and what is important to us.

It is the inability to change course or to persist in a behavior when doing so would be beneficial.

Imagine a gardener who has the strict rule: "I must water the plants every day at 8:00 AM."

If it is raining torrentially one day and he goes out to water anyway because "it's the rule," he is acting rigidly. He is ignoring the context (there is already water) to follow the mental instruction.

In mental health, this is seen when someone continues to isolate (behavior) because they feel sad (internal event), even though isolating makes them feel sadder in the long run.

The person becomes insensitive to the real consequences of their actions because they are fused to the instruction in their mind that tells them "don't go out, you're not in the mood."

Rigidity reduces our repertoire of responses, making our life smaller and smaller and more limited.

Flexibility as a contextual adaptive capacity

The ultimate goal of treatment is to develop psychological flexibility. This does not mean "thinking positive" or always being happy, but having the ability to be in conscious contact with the present moment - both pleasant and unpleasant - and, based on that awareness, to change or persist in behavior in service of our values.

It is the ability to feel fear and still step forward if that is what matters in that moment. We can use the metaphor of a willow tree versus an oak tree in a storm.

The oak is hard, strong and rigid; it seems invincible, but if the wind is too strong, unable to bend, it will break.

The willow, on the other hand, is flexible; it bends with the wind, moves with the storm, does not fight against it, and therefore survives and recovers its shape.

Psychological flexibility allows us to adapt to emotional storms without breaking.

It allows us to notice that we are having the thought "I can't do it," recognize it as a simple mental event, and still take the action to do it.

It is the freedom to choose our response rather than automatically reacting to our impulses and programmed thoughts.

Summary

From ACT, psychopathology is not seen as a disease, but as the result of psychological rigidity: acting directed by verbal rules and avoidance rather than by the present context.

Rigidity makes us insensitive to the real consequences of our actions, keeping us in ineffective behaviors simply to obey mental instructions, which reduces and limits our life repertoire.

The goal of treatment is to develop psychological flexibility, allowing us to adapt to emotional storms without breaking, to persist or change behavior in the service of what we truly value.