acceptance and commitment therapy

[acoc100]

Acceptance and commitment therapy Where have you been all my life?

- A therapy based on living mindfully and identifying your personal values and setting goal based on these.

I just started doing this therapy by himself from a book (The happiness Trap) and following meditation exercises on a CD about a month ago.

I am getting considerable benefits already I no longer see my anxiety as a dominating force in my life but more like a part of life which I must accept.

And paradoxically as I accept my anxiety and take valued actions despite of it - my anxiety seems to shrink.

I am feeling much more at peace since I started the therapy even though I am going into much more anxiety generating situations.

I cant recommend this approach to living highly enough and if your interested check out http://www.contextualpsychology.org/act for ACT resources or check out The happiness Trap by Russ Harris.

Wishing you peace,
Andy

[pita]

I like ACT. The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for anxiety has been helpful to me.

[jook]

I wish I could shout it from the rooftops Mindfulness and Acceptance therapy really, really works!!! And it's almost too simple to be true...just stop fighting the anxiety and accept it. I have definitely seen improvements with both social anxiety and depression since I started applying this method about a year ago.

[antonina]

I have been hearing about this. It is good to know that people here are having good outcomes with it.

[low]

Yeah. I'm doing something different but the guy doing it also uses value as a key principle to social success.

What is mindfulness though? I meen I know what it is, but what's the concept applied to this therapy? Is it a cover term for different talking mechanisms and how you sell yourself etc? Or is it be mindful/think of what you say? Because that seems counter productive and often leads people to stop mid speech, mumble, panic etc like many SA do.

[Keith]

My therapist just recommended i read the happiness trap last week, glad to hear its helped you I'll definitely have to pick it up. My therapist is really into mindfulness stuff and deep breathing and all that.

[Keith]

Originally Posted by low

Yeah. I'm doing something different but the guy doing it also uses value as a key principle to social success.

What is mindfulness though? I meen I know what it is, but what's the concept applied to this therapy? Is it a cover term for different talking mechanisms and how you sell yourself etc? Or is it be mindful/think of what you say? Because that seems counter productive and often leads people to stop mid speech, mumble, panic etc like many SA do.

mindfulness is all about staying in the moment and awareness of the present moment and trying not to worry about the future or regret the past but just try to live in the present

[low]

Originally Posted by Keith

mindfulness is all about staying in the moment and awareness of the present moment and trying not to worry about the future or regret the past but just try to live in the present

Cheers.

[sberkley]

I have been trying to live in the moment for years , it does help with anxiety .

[acoc100]

Mindfulness in ACT is basically about cultivating a different attitude to your thoughts and emotions.

Its kind of hard to explain. But basically its about creating a little distance between you and your thoughts so that you don't get hooked or buy all your thoughts. ACT gives you strategies to due this.

Acceptance of emotions particularly distressing ones (anxiety, panic ..etc) and being willing to allow them to be there is another aspect of the mindfulness incorporated in ACT.

And the final part of mindfulness in ACT is called connection, ( which I find the most difficult part!) involves focusing on what your are doing in the present moment through all five senses and not getting lost in thoughts and going on auto pilot.

I hope this goes some way towards explaining it.

[jook]

Originally Posted by acoc100

Acceptance of emotions particularly distressing ones (anxiety, panic ..etc) and being willing to allow them to be there is another aspect of the mindfulness incorporated in ACT.

ACOC, that's a pretty good definition of mindfulness. The particular aspect you mentioned above, is what I have found very helpful. I have experienced the lessening in symptoms when you commit to letting the negative emotions or thoughts exist without becoming reactive. It's like you move through the anxiety and come out on the other side of it. As much as we would rather avoid feeling anxious, fighting it doesn't help. Even if we're only fighting it in our minds.
Anxiety is a lot like getting caught in an undercurrent, I think. If you panic and begin to fight for your life you will drown. But if you go with the current, eventually you will be able to swim free of it. It takes a lot of nerve to not fight because it feels like if you do you will drown. But in the end not fighting is what saves you. That's what mindfulness teaches you.

[lyricalillusions]

CBT isn't something that ever worked for me, & ACT just seems better overall. Hopefully it'll help me some some since nothing else does.