A Cbt Practitioner S Guide To Act

If recent professional publications and conferences are any indication, acceptance- and mindfulness-based therapies are the future of clinical psychology. A CBT-Practitioner's Guide to ACT helps professionals whose clinical educations focused on traditional, change-based cognitive behavior therapies navigate the practical and theoretical challenges that come with the switch to the more promising, acceptance-based strategies.

Interest in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is expanding rapidly. Many of those who are interested in ACT are trained using a mechanistic cognitive behavioral therapy model (or MCBT). Utilizing both ACT and MCBT together can be difficult, because the approaches make different philosophical assumptions and have different theoretical models. The core purpose of the book is to help provide a bridge between ACT and MCBT. The emphasis of this book will be applied psychology, but it will also have important theoretical implications. The book will highlight where ACT and MCBT differ in their predictions, and will suggest directions for future research. It will be grounded in current research and will make clear to the reader what is known and what has yet to be tested. The core theme of A CBT-Practitioner's Guide to ACT is that ACT and CBT can be unified if they share the same philosophical underpinnings (functional contextualism) and theoretical orientation (relational frame theory, or RFT). Thus, from a CBT practitioner's perspective, the mechanistic philosophical core of MCBT can be dropped, and the mechanistic information processing theory of CBT can be held lightly and ignored in contexts where it is not useful. From an ACT practitioner's perspective, the decades of CBT research on cognitive schema and dysfunctional beliefs provides useful information about how clients might be cognitively fused and how this fusion might be undermined. The core premise of the book is that CBT and ACT can be beneficially integrated, provided both are approached from a similar philosophical and theoretical framework. The authors acknowledge that practitioners often have little interest in extended discussions of philosophy and theory. Thus, their discussion of functional contextualism and RFT is grounded clearly in clinical practice. They talk about what functional contextualism means for the practitioner in the room, with a particular client. They describe how RFT can help the practitioner to understand the barriers to effective client action.

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.

"Subject Areas/Keywords: anger, approval seeking, assumptions, avoidance, basics, CBT, challenging, clinical practice, cognitive distortions, cognitive therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, CT, decision making, distortion, eliciting, emotion regulation, emotional processing, emotions, evaluating, examining, forms, homework, interventions, intrusive, logical errors, modifying, practitioners, psychotherapists, psychotherapy, schemas, self-criticism, skills, strategies, techniques, testing, therapists, thoughts, training DESCRIPTION This indispensable book has given many tens of thousands of practitioners a wealth of evidence-based tools for maximizing the power of cognitive therapy and tailoring it to individual clients. Leading authority Robert L. Leahy describes ways to help clients identify and modify problematic thoughts, core beliefs, and patterns of worry, self-criticism, and approval-seeking; evaluate personal schemas; cope with painful emotions; and take action to achieve their goals. Each technique includes vivid case examples and sample dialogues. Featuring 125 reproducible forms, the print book has a large-size format for easy photocopying; purchasers also get access to a Web page where they can download and print the reproducible materials. "--

In this second edition of CBT Made Simple, two renowned psychologists and experts in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) offer the most comprehensive manual available to help professionals learn CBT and deliver it to clients for better treatment outcomes. CBT is an evidence-based treatment for several mental health disorders, including anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and anger problems. This simple, pragmatic guide offers everything you need to know about CBT: what it is, how it works, and how to implement it in session. This fully revised and updated second edition of CBT Made Simple provides a user-friendly, practical approach to learning CBT using up-to-the-minute teaching methods and learning tools—in particular, the “effective adult learning model,” which promotes interactive learning, experiential learning, and self-reflection. Each chapter presents key elements of CBT in clear, accessible language, and includes client dialogues and clinical examples. Practical exercises are incorporated throughout, enabling you to practice and consolidate your learning. In addition, each chapter mimics the structure of an actual CBT session. This new edition also includes the core components of CBT—core beliefs, intermediate beliefs, and behavioral experiments—to make this the most comprehensive CBT manual you’ll find anywhere. If you are a clinician or student interested in learning more about CBT, this book—part of the New Harbinger Made Simple series that includes ACT Made Simple and DBT Made Simple—has everything you need to hit the ground running. Why not make it a part of your professional library?

Psychological research suggests that cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), used alone or in combination with medical therapy, is the most effective treatment for depression. Recent finding, though, suggest that CBT for depression may work through different processes than we had previously suspected. The stated goal of therapeutic work in CBT is the challenging and restructuring of irrational thoughts that can lead to feelings of depression. But the results of recent studies suggest that two other side effects of CBT may actually have a greater impact that thought restructuring on client progress: Distancing and decentering work that helps clients stop identifying with depression and behavior activation, a technique that helps him or her to reengage with naturally pleasurable and rewarding activities. These two components of conventional CBT are central in the treatment approach of the new acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). This book develops the techniques of ACT into a session-by-session approach that therapists can use to treat clients suffering from depression. The research-proven program outlined in ACT for Depression introduces therapists to the ACT model on theoretical and case-conceptual levels. Then it delves into the specifics of structuring interventions for clients with depression using the ACT method of acceptance and values-based behavior change. Written by one of the pioneering researchers into the effectiveness of ACT for the treatment of depression, this book is a much-needed professional resource for the tens of thousand of therapists who are becoming ever more interested in ACT.

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is proven effective in the treatment of an array of disorders, including addiction, depression, anxiety, self-harm, eating disorders, and more. Evidence shows that mindfulness and acceptance exercises help clients connect with the moment, uncover their true values, and commit to positive change. But did you know that compassion focused exercises can also greatly increase clients’ psychological flexibility? More and more, therapists are finding that the act of compassion—both towards oneself and towards others—can lead to greater emotional and physical well-being, increased distress tolerance, and a broader range of effective responses to stressful situations. One of the best advantages of compassion focused methods is how easily they can be integrated into an ACT approach. An important addition to any ACT professional’s library, The ACT Practitioner’s Guide to the Science of Compassion explores the emotionally healing benefits of compassion focused practices when applied to traditional acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). This book offers case conceptualization, assessments, and direct clinical applications that integrate ACT, functional analytic psychotherapy, and compassion focused therapy to enhance your clinical practice. This is the first book on the market to provide an in-depth discussion of compassion in the context of ACT and other behavioral sciences. The integrative treatment model in this book provides powerful transdiagnostic tools and processes that will essentially build bridges across therapies. If you are ready for a new, easily integrated range of techniques that can be used for a variety of treatment applications, this guide will prove highly useful. And if you are looking to build on your previous experience with cognitive and behavioral therapies, this book will help to enhance your treatment sessions with clients and increase their psychological flexibility.

For the newly trained Cognitive Behavioural Therapist, there are a wealth of challenges and difficulties faced, as they try and apply their new found skills in the outside world. These might include the stresses of working in isolation, and finding it difficult to widen their scope or bounce ideas of other CBT therapists; or the need for practical advice on setting up group therapy; the possible conflicts betweens ethical practice and theory; how to retain ones integrity as a therapist, while maintaing a viable business practice; dealing with diverse communities, or becoming a supervisor. The Oxford Guide to Surviving CBT Practice is the one-stop resource for the newly trained therapist. It offers practical guidance on a range of issues and challenges faced by the therapist. Written by people with vast experience of training and practising CBT, it draws on real life situations to help the reader hone and develop their skills, adjust to life as a therapist, and maintain a successful and satisfying career whilst helping others. With thousands of new CBT therapists being trained over the coming years, this book will be a constant companion for all those starting life as a therapist, one they will want to have to hand at all times.