ACT-Informed Exposure for Anxiety


Book Description

Powerfully effective, innovative, values-driven exposures for treating clients with anxiety. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) offers a proven effective model rooted in cutting edge research for guiding the use of exposure therapy—one of the most effective treatments for anxiety-related disorders. This comprehensive book provides easy-to-implement guidance in utilizing ACT-informed exposure while remaining grounded in theory, so you can help your clients approach what they’re afraid of in order to live their best lives. As you know, there are many different styles and ways of practicing exposure. This essential professional guide synthesizes evidence-based science, clinical studies, and complex theory into one powerfully effective resource, and makes ACT-informed exposure accessible to any practicing clinician. The book also offers practical suggestions for tailoring exposure exercises grounded in ACT to effectively address common client and therapist barriers to exposure therapy. Whether you are new to ACT and exposure, or are experienced in other models of exposure therapy and interested in incorporating ACT into your practice, this book is an essential resource for your professional library.




Exposure Therapy for Anxiety


Book Description

Now revised and expanded to include cutting-edge acceptance-based techniques and a new focus on inhibitory learning, this is the leading guide to therapeutic exposure, a crucial element of evidence-based psychological treatments for anxiety. The book helps the clinician gain skills and confidence for implementing exposure successfully and tailoring interventions to each client's needs, regardless of diagnosis. The theoretical and empirical bases of exposure are reviewed and specialized assessment and treatment planning techniques are described. User-friendly features include illustrative case examples, sample treatment plans, ideas for exercises targeting specific types of fears, and reproducible handouts and forms that can be downloaded and printed in a convenient 8½" x 11" size. New to This Edition *Chapter on acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) techniques. *Reflects a shift in the field toward inhibitory learning--helping clients learn to tolerate anxiety and uncertainty to maximize long-term outcomes. *Chapter on uses of technology, such as computer-based therapy and virtual reality tools. *Conceptual, empirical, and clinical advances woven throughout. See also the related client recommendation, The Anxiety and Worry Workbook, Second Edition, by David A. Clark and Aaron T. Beck.




Learning ACT


Book Description

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is among the most remarkable developments in contemporary psychotherapy. This second edition of the pioneering ACT skills-training manual for clinicians provides a comprehensive update—essential for both experienced practitioners and those new to using ACT and its applications. ACT is a proven-effective treatment for numerous mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, stress, addictions, eating disorders, schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, and more. With important revisions based on new developments in contextual behavioral science, Learning ACT, Second Edition includes up-to-date exercises and references, as well as material on traditional, evidence-based behavioral techniques for use within the ACT framework. In this fully revised and updated edition of Learning ACT, you’ll find workbook-format exercises to help you understand and take advantage of ACT’s unique six process model—both as a tool for diagnosis and case conceptualization, and as a basis for structuring treatments for clients. You’ll also find up-to-the-minute information on process coaching, new experiential exercises, an increased focus on functional analysis, and downloadable extras that include role-played examples of the core ACT processes in action. By practicing the exercises in this workbook, you’ll learn how this powerful modality can improve clients’ psychological flexibility and help them to live better lives. Whether you’re a clinician looking for in-depth training and better treatment outcomes for individual clients, a student seeking a better understanding of this powerful modality, or anyone interested in contextual behavioral science, this second edition provides a comprehensive revision to an important ACT resource.




Living Beyond Your Pain


Book Description

Using mindfulness-based techniques and cognitive behavioral tools, a leading expert on the use of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) teaches readers to transcend the experience of chronic pain by reconnecting with other, more valued aspects of their lives.




ACT-Informed Exposure for Anxiety


Book Description

Powerfully effective, innovative, values-driven exposures for treating clients with anxiety. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) offers a proven effective model rooted in cutting edge research for guiding the use of exposure therapy—one of the most effective treatments for anxiety-related disorders. This comprehensive book provides easy-to-implement guidance in utilizing ACT-informed exposure while remaining grounded in theory, so you can help your clients approach what they’re afraid of in order to live their best lives. As you know, there are many different styles and ways of practicing exposure. This essential professional guide synthesizes evidence-based science, clinical studies, and complex theory into one powerfully effective resource, and makes ACT-informed exposure accessible to any practicing clinician. The book also offers practical suggestions for tailoring exposure exercises grounded in ACT to effectively address common client and therapist barriers to exposure therapy. Whether you are new to ACT and exposure, or are experienced in other models of exposure therapy and interested in incorporating ACT into your practice, this book is an essential resource for your professional library.




The Big Book of Exposures


Book Description

As a clinician, do you suffer from “exposure phobia?” This breakthrough book offers 400 creative, innovative, and easy-to-implement exposure exercises to help you and your clients move past fears, energize treatment sessions, and improve client outcomes. In cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), exposures are the gold standard for treating anxiety-related disorders, including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), panic, and phobias. But if you’re like many therapists, you’ve likely encountered clients who are fearful or reluctant to exposure therapy. As a result, you may also shy away from doing exposures out of fear of worsening your client’s anxiety or rupturing the client/therapist rapport. So, how can you find a new approach for using this effective—yet intimidating—treatment? The Big Book of Exposures offers unconventional new exposures to help you provide the most effective treatment possible. In addition, you’ll also find a comprehensive overview of exposure therapy; a rationale for its use in treating anxiety-related disorders; troubleshooting tips for dealing with common roadblocks, such as avoidance; and techniques for helping clients stay motivated during treatment. With this essential resource, you’ll learn to create engaging and enjoyable exposure exercises to improve treatment outcomes and help your clients live better lives.




Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life


Book Description

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a new approach to psychotherapy that rethinks even the most basic assumptions of mental well-being. Starting with the assumption that the normal condition of human existence is suffering and struggle, ACT works by first encouraging individuals to accept their lives as they are in the here and now.




The Big Book of ACT Metaphors


Book Description

Metaphors and exercises play an incredibly important part in the successful delivery of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). These powerful tools go far in helping clients connect with their values and give them the motivation needed to make a real, conscious commitment to change. Unfortunately, many of the metaphors that clinicians use have become stale and ineffective. That’s why you need fresh, new resources for your professional library. In this breakthrough book, two ACT researchers provide an essential A-Z resource guide that includes tons of new metaphors and experiential exercises to help promote client acceptance, defusion from troubling thoughts, and values-based action. The book also includes scripts tailored to different client populations, and special metaphors and exercises that address unique problems that may sometimes arise in your therapy sessions. Several ACT texts and workbooks have been published for the treatment of a variety of psychological problems. However, no one resource exists where you can find an exhaustive list of metaphors and experiential exercises geared toward the six core elements of ACT. Whether you are treating a client with anxiety, depression, trauma, or an eating disorder, this book will provide you with the skills needed to improve lives, one exercise at a time. With a special foreword by ACT cofounder Steven C. Hayes, PhD, this book is a must-have for any ACT Practitioner.




ACT in Practice


Book Description

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is more than just a set of techniques for structuring psychotherapeutic treatment; it also offers a new, insightful, transdiagnostic approach to case conceptualization and to mental health in general. Learn to put this popular new psychotherapeutic model to work in your practice with this book, the first guide that explains how to do case conceptualization within an ACT framework. ACT in Practice offers an introduction to ACT, an overview of its impact, and a brief introduction to the six core processes of ACT treatment--the six points of the hexaflex model and its pathological alter ego, the so-called inflexahex. It describes how to accomplish case conceptualizations in general and offers précis of the literature that establish the importance and value of case conceptualization. This guide also offers possible alternative case conceptualization for cases from different therapeutic traditions, a great help to therapists who come from a more traditional CBT background. Exercises throughout help you to evaluate the information you have just learned so that you may effectively integrate ACT into your practice.




Acceptance and Mindfulness Treatments for Children and Adolescents


Book Description

Though acceptance and mindfulness interventions have proven enormously effective for adults with stress, anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues, they have not been fully documented for use with children and adolescents. And yet they are a natural fit for children's therapy-the focus on acceptance and mindfulness builds children's psychological flexibility, and the values component of these methods helps young people learn to set goals and take action to achieve them. The chapters in Acceptance and Mindfulness Treatments for Children and Adolescents show how to modify third-wave behavioral and cognitive therapy methods for the treatment of children and adolescents. This book also considers the early evidence for the adaptability and effectiveness of these methods. Edited by two luminaries in the field of third-wave behavior therapy, these essays will be invaluable in helping young patients reap the benefits of acceptance and mindfulness approaches such as acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). •Learn how ACT, DBT, MBCT, and MBSR can be used with young people and their families •Discover recent third-wave behavior therapy research •Explore the practice issues that arise when acceptance and mindfulness techniques are used with children and adolescents •Find out how to put these techniques to work in your own practice