Addressing psychological discomfort with Acceptance and Commitment Coaching

Psychological discomfort can be best thought of as the mental content (thoughts, images, feelings, predictions, etc.) that people want to avoid experiencing. We can appreciate the subjective nature of psychological discomfort, since what may be deeply uncomfortable for one person may be highly motivating for another. Indeed, in coaching developing an understanding the contextual nature of psychological discomfort is key, as it may arise from a combination of tasks, stakeholders, goals and prior experiences. This paper explores psychological discomfort and experiential avoidance through the lens of Acceptance and Commitment Coaching (ACC). ACC is an evidence-based, psychologically-informed coaching process aimed at maximising individuals’ personal and professional potential by increasing their psychological flexibility. The paper illustrates how to explore the limiting impact of experiential avoidance with clients and how ACC can be brought to life for the client in these situations, equipping them with the skills to minimise avoidance and effectively and sustainably navigate discomfort in future. We summarise the evidence for ACC and psychological flexibility processes as a way to address experiential avoidance and offer a detailed case study of ACC practice to explore and address psychological discomfort and experiential avoidance in workplace coaching contexts.