Background: Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is a form of behavioral therapy that teaches people to learn to accept rather than avoid challenging situations in their lives. ACT has shown to be an intervention with great success in the reduction of various mental disorders and substance use disorders (SUDs). The core of ACT when used in SUD treatment is guiding people to accept the urges and symptoms associated with substance misuse (acceptance) and use psychological flexibility and value-based interventions to reduce those urges and the symptoms (commitment). The purpose of this study is to review the existing literature to examine the evidence on the use of ACT in the management of SUD. Methods: A thorough search of four databases (CINAHL, PubMed. gov, PsycINFO and PsycNET) from 2011 to 2020 was conducted using search terms like ACT, ACT and SUD, ACT, and substance misuse. The articles retrieved were critically appraised using the Critically Appraised Topic (CAT) Checklist. Results: Most of the studies showed that ACT was effective in the management of SUD showing significant evidence of a reduction in substance use or total discontinuation with subsequent abstinence. Conclusions: The literature review concluded that success has been achieved using ACT either as monotherapy or in combination with other therapy in the treatment of individuals with SUD.

The first case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was reported in Wuhan China on December 31, 2019. COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic on March 11, 2020. To reduce the spread of this virus, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommended self and mandatory quarantine of exposed individuals and self-isolation. However, the psychological impact of this pandemic includes new onset or worsening of existing mental illnesses which include but are not limited to anxiety, depression from social isolation, eating disorders, and uptake in suicidality either in isolation or part of mental illness symptomatology. In the USA, suicide is the second leading cause of death among people aged 10-34 years while globally, it is the second cause of death among people aged 15-29 years. The authors present a case of two young women of minority population with no prior psychiatric illnesses who presented to the psychiatry emergency room with suicidal attempts due to COVID-19 pandemic-related psychosocial stressors.

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