A Practical Guide to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy / Edition 1

by Steven C. Hayes, Kirk D. Strosahl

Overview

This book is the most practical clinical guide on Acceptance and Commit­ ment Therapy (ACT said as one word, not as initials) yet available. It is designed to show how the ACT model and techniques apply to various disorders, settings, and delivery options. The authors of these chapters are experts in applying ACT in these various areas, and it is intriguing how the same core principles of ACT are given a nip here and a tuck there to fit it to so many issues. The purpose of this book, in part, is to emboldened researchers and clinicians to begin to apply ACT wherever it seems to fit. The chapters in the book demonstrate that ACT may be a useful treatment approach for a very wide range of clinical problems. Already there are controlled data in many of these areas, and soon that database will be much larger. The theory underlying ACT (Relational Frame Theory or "RFT"-and yes, here you say the initials) makes a powerful claim: psy­ chopathology is, to a significant degree, built into human language. Fur­ ther, it suggests ways to diminish destructive language-based functions and ways of augmenting helpful ones. To the extent that this model is cor­ rect, ACT should apply to a very wide variety of behavioral issues because of the centrality of language and cognition in human functioning.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781441936172
Publisher:	Springer US
Publication date:	12/01/2010
Edition description:	Softcover reprint of hardcover 1st ed. 2004
Pages:	396
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Steven C. Hayes, Ph.D. is Nevada Foundation Professor at the Department of Psychology at the University of Nevada. An author of more than twenty books and more than 325 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. In 1992 he was listed by the Institute for Scientific Information as the 30th "highest impact" psychologist in the world during 1986-1990 based on the citation impact of his writings. Dr. Hayes has been President of Division 25 of the American Psychological Association, of the American Association of Applied and Preventive Psychology and of the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy. He was the first Secretary-Treasurer of the American Psychological Society, which he helped form. He has received the Don F. Hake Award for Exemplary Contributions to Basic Behavioral Research and Its Applications from Division 25 of the American Psychological Association and was appointed by HHS Secretary Donna Shalala to a 5 year term on the National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse in the NIH.

Table of Contents

I. An Act Approach.- 1. What Is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy?.- 2. An ACT Primer: Core Therapy Processes, Intervention Strategies, and Therapist Competencies.- 3. ACT Case Formulation.- II. Act with Behavior Problems.- 4. ACT with Affective Disorders.- 5. ACT with Anxiety Disorders.- 6. ACT with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.- 7. ACT for Substance Abuse and Dependence.- 8. ACT with the Seriously Mentally III.- 9. ACT with the Multi-Problem Patient.- III. Act with Special Populations, Settings, and Methods.- 10. ACT with Children, Adolescents, and Their Parents.- 11. ACT for Stress.- 12. ACT in Medical Settings.- 13. ACT with Chronic Pain Patients.- 14. ACT in Group Format.- References.

Editorial Reviews

"ACT opened the door to more fascinating discoveries about human beings, language, and psychopathology in general. Within these discoveries also lie the treatment technologies comprising ACT that are competently presented in this book, A Practical Guide to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. . .As the authors describe, this book is the first practical guide that highlights the ACT approach for numerous disorders and presents it in detail. . .The innovative conceptualization of psychopathology, presented in ACT, may appeal to practioners because it provides answers and alternatives to relapse and the difficulties some clients present with being unable to gain control of their symptoms. Practioners may also like the technology and the metaphors used in ACT. . .In each chapter presenting ACT for a different group of disorders, the authors skillfully present a formulation of the disorder based on the ACT principles and then describe the ACT approach for the specific disorder or group of disorders. . . "

By Maria Karekla & Marianna Charilaou, PsycCRITIQUES, American Psychological Association, Volume 50, Number 52.

From the Publisher