Experiential, Didactic, and Dialectic

How to Build an Integrative Therapeutic Stance in ACT and Process-Based Therapies

June 9th & 16th 2025 from 9am to 1pm (US Pacific Time) on Zoom

The sessions will be recorded and accessible to participants attending at least one session.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an experiential approach to behavior change in which clients are encouraged to contact and observe their emotions, thoughts, and actions, and the context in which they occur. This is typically distinguished from didactic approaches that consist of providing clients with information and guidance, and from dialectic approaches that consist of exchanging points of views on psychological issues. 

In practice, however, ACT therapists often find it difficult to stick with the experiential stance, especially when their clients are stuck or when they feel pressured to make progress quickly. They might then use more didactic and dialectic means but worry that their work has become ACT inconsistent.

This training aims to reconcile these three styles of delivering therapy in order to improve the efficacy and efficiency of your ACT practice. Rather than considering experiential, didactic, and dialectic approaches as fundamentally distinct, we will explore how they can co-exist and even potentialize each other inside an integrative stance focusing on developing clients’ autonomy.

The course will consist of two sessions including didactics, demonstrations, and roleplays, as follows:

1st Session: Experiential, didactic, and dialectic styles

Based on chapters 9 & 10 of Mastering the Clinical Conversation (Villatte et al. 2016)

  • Define experiential, didactic, and dialectic styles in therapy
  • Recognize experiential, didactic, and dialectic styles demonstrations
  • Practice experiential, didactic, and dialectic styles in roleplays

2nd Session: The integrative therapeutic stance

Based on chapters 9 & 10 of Mastering the Clinical Conversation (Villatte et al. 2016)

  • Explore your values as a therapist
  • Build your personalized therapeutic stance
  • Practice your own therapeutic stance in roleplays

Fees: US$200

U$100 for low & middle income countries (see the list of countries here) and for students.

Registration: contact matthieu.villatte@gmail.com