Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for PTSD: Group Manual
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (South Central MIRECC) · 2017 · 93 pages · For therapists running ACT groups for PTSD or adding values-based exposure to trauma work
Read it at the official source
A VA clinician-education publication, free to access. Portions were adapted from commercial ACT books with acknowledgment, so read it at the official source.
If the publisher link moves: archived copy
The VA's session-by-session manual for a 10-week ACT group for veterans with PTSD, written by three VA psychologists at the Oklahoma City VA Medical Center. Each 90-minute session gets a full script: willingness and mindfulness, defusion, personal values with a card sort, the observing self, and observing the trauma, plus an optional pre-group individual session.
What sets it apart from other free ACT materials is the exposure arc in sessions 5 through 7, which walks the group through values-based in vivo exposures and post-exposure review. A companion patient manual with session notes and homework is published alongside it.
Run it with these materials
The values discussion cards mirror the manual's card sort, the observing self and defusion worksheets carry its homework, and the free PCL-5 covers the symptom monitoring at intake and wrap-up.
This manual is a publication of U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (South Central MIRECC). Therapy Resource is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, its publisher. The summary above is our own; always follow the manual itself and your clinical judgment. If you are in crisis, contact 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline or call 911.