Welcome to PsychEd, the psychiatry podcast for medical learners, by medical learners.
This episode covers Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) with Dr. Kenneth Fung and Dr. Iline Guan.
Dr. Kenneth Fung is Staff Psychiatrist at the Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network. He is Professor and Director of Global Mental Health with the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. His research, teaching, and clinical interests include both cultural psychiatry and psychotherapy, especially ACT, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), and mindfulness. He is the Block Co-coordinator of the Cultural Psychiatry Core Seminars for psychiatry residents, and the seminar co-lead and psychotherapy supervisor in CBT at the University Health Network.
Dr. Guan is a psychiatrist who practices outpatient general psychiatry at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, where she works in the Mood and Anxiety Ambulatory Services and the Northern Psychiatric Outreach Program. She also works with Inner City Health Associates in downtown Toronto. She has had training across various psychotherapy modalities, including psychodynamic therapy, CBT, DBT, IPT, MBSR/MBCT, and ACT. She is involved in resident teaching and psychotherapy supervision at the University of Toronto, and has implemented a pilot ACT group program in the Mood and Anxiety clinic at CAMH.
The learning objectives for this episode are as follows:
Describe the theoretical model and core processes underlying ACT
Identify the evidence base and clinical indications for using ACT across psychiatric presentations
Demonstrate core ACT techniques and how they can be integrated into clinical practice
Guest: Dr. Kenneth Fung and Dr. Iline Guan
Hosts: Victoria Meng (MS3), Dr. Katherine Bailey (PGY3), and Dr. Angad Singh (PGY3)
Audio editing: Dr. Angad Singh (PGY3)
References:
1. Hayes, S. C., Luoma, J. B., Bond, F. W., Masuda, A., & Lillis, J. (2006). Acceptance and commitment therapy: Model, processes and outcomes. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 44(1), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2005.06.006
2. Gloster, A. T., Walder, N., Levin, M. E., Twohig, M. P., & Karekla, M. (2020). The empirical status of acceptance and commitment therapy: A review of meta-analyses. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 18, 181–192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcbs.2020.09.009
3. Twohig, M. P., et al. (2025). Group acceptance and commitment therapy versus cognitive behavioral therapy/exposure response prevention for obsessive compulsive disorder: A block randomized controlled trial. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39987908/
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