Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

by Steven C. Hayes PhD, Jason Lillis

Overview

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy examines the therapy’s history and process, evaluates the therapy's evidence base and effectiveness, and suggests future directions in the therapy’s development.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a unique empirically based psychological intervention that uses acceptance and mindfulness processes, and commitment and behavior change processes to produce psychological flexibility. Steven C. Hayes, who helped develop ACT, and co-author Jason Lillis provide an overview of ACT’s main influences and its basic principles.

In this succinct and understandable survey, the authors show how ACT illuminates the ways that language encourages unhelpful skirmishing in clients’ psychic lives, and how to use ACT to help clients accept private experiences, become more mindful of thoughts, develop greater clarity about personal values, and commit to needed behavior change.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781433811531
Publisher:	American Psychological Association
Publication date:	05/15/2012
Series:	Theories of Psychotherapy Series®
Pages:	168
Sales rank:	715,564
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Steven C. Hayes, PhD, is Nevada Foundation Professor at the Department of Psychology at the University of Nevada. He is the author of 35 books and over 475 scientific articles. His career has focused on an analysis of the nature of human language and cognition and the application of this to the understanding and alleviation of human suffering. His work has been recognized by several awards, including the Exemplary Contributions to Basic Behavioral Research and Its Applications from APA's Division 25 (Behavior Analysis), the Impact of Science on Application Award from the Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies.
 
Jason Lillis, PhD, is an instructor in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and a clinical psychologist at the Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center at The Miriam Hospital. He earned his PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Nevada, Reno, and completed his clinical internship at VA Palo Alto Health Care System, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in health services research at Stanford University. Dr. Lillis is a leading researcher and an internationally recognized trainer of acceptance and commitment therapy.
 

Read an Excerpt

I. The Problem and the Approach
1. The Dilemma of Human Suffering
2. The Philosophical and Theoretical Foundation of ACT
3. The ACT Model of Psychopathology and Human Suffering
II. Clinical Methods
4. Creative Hopelessness: Challenging the Normal Change Agenda
5. Control Is the Problem, Not the Solution
6. Building Acceptance by Defusing Language
7. Discovering Self, Defusing Self
8. Valuing
9. Willingness and Commitment: Putting ACT into Action
III. Using ACT
10. The Effective ACT Therapeutic Relationship
11. ACT in Context

Table of Contents

Series Preface

How to Use This Book with APA Psychotherapy Videos

Preface

1. Introduction
2. History
3. Theory
4. The Therapy Process
5. Evaluation
6. Future Developments
7. Summary

Glossary of Key Terms

Suggested Readings and Other Materials

References

Index

About the Authors

About the Series Editors

Editorial Reviews

Presents a unique psychotherapeutic approach that addresses the problems of psychological suffering by altering the very ground on which rational change strategies rests. Focuses on how clients understand and perpetuate their difficulties through language, and shows how interventions based on metaphor, paradox, and experiential exercise can enable clients to break free of language traps, overcome common behavioral problems, and enhance general life satisfaction. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

"A significant and novel contribution....This book presents an innovative approach to helping clients accept their thoughts and feelings and overcome experiential avoidance. The authors delineate a solid clinical rationale and provide clear guidelines for ACT implementation. A real strength of this book is the chapters on each stage of treatment, which detail a wealth of strategies and interventions and include excellent exercises, therapist-client dialogues, and pointers for practice." --Leslie S. Greenberg, PhD, York University, Canada

"This book offers the clinician a theoretical, philosophical, and practical guide to a new and potentially powerful model of psychotherapy. Focusing on the context and process of change, Hayes sets out a clear plan to help those clients who, as he puts it, feel unable to find their way out of life's ongoing traps. His blueprint for change encourages a strategic and technical eclecticism and the building of a strong working alliance. The pragmatic and reasonable approach described in this book will be of great interest to therapists from any disciplinary background. It will also serve as an excellent text in graduate-level counseling and psychotherapy courses." --Arthur Freeman, EdD, ABPP, Professor and Chair, Department of Psychology, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine

"This book offers the clinician a theoretical, philosophical, and practical guide to a new and potentially powerful model of psychotherapy. Focusing on the context and process of change, Hayes sets out a clear plan to help those clients who, as he puts it, feel unable to find their way out of life's ongoing traps. His blueprint for change encourages a strategic and technical eclecticism and the building of a strong working alliance. The pragmatic and reasonable approach described in this book will be of great interest to therapists from any disciplinary background. It will also serve as an excellent text in graduate-level counseling and psychotherapy courses." --Arthur Freeman, EdD, ABPP, Professor and Chair, Department of Psychology, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine

"Once in a while, there is a unique contribution to psychotherapy. Even more rare is the grounding of that contribution in sound philosophy, on the one hand, and firm data, on the other. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy represents such an effort. In a truly creative leap forward, Hayes and his colleagues present a new approach to behavior change that is 'must' reading for everyone in the field of psychotherapy or behavior therapy, as well as students entering the profession. Challenging the assumptions and methods of cognitive therapy, this is among the most significant new approaches to behavior change of the past three decades." --David H. Barlow, PhD, Director, Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts

From the Publisher