Steven C. Hayes
He reframed suffering as the doorway to a valued life.
Originator of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Relational Frame Theory, teaching psychological flexibility through acceptance and values-based action.
techniques
You hurt where you care, and you care where you hurt.
Who they were
Steven C. Hayes is an American psychologist and one of the most cited in his field. He originated Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and its basis, Relational Frame Theory. ACT centers on psychological flexibility: accepting inner experience while committing to action guided by values. His work has generated hundreds of randomized trials and is disseminated worldwide.
Terms they cared about
Ideas worth knowing
Their techniques
How the work was done
Their big idea
Acceptance & Commitment Theory
Suffering grows when we fight inner experience; flexibility comes from accepting it and acting on values.
The approach they founded
Acceptance & Commitment Therapy
Make room for hard inner experience instead of fighting it, then act on what you truly value.
Questions in their spirit
What they’d ask you
Sit with one. Answer online, or in the app.
Carry the idea forward
Hayes — What they’d ask you
Psipas asks you one small, honest question at a time — and builds the picture from your answers.