Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Second Edition : The Process and Practice of Mindful Change

The prevailing view among both therapists and clients is that a more vital life can be attained by overcoming negative thoughts and feelings. Then why do so many people continue to suffer with behavior disorders, adjustment difficulties, and low life satisfaction? Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a unique psychotherapeutic approach that addresses this question by altering the very ground on which rational change strategies rest. Providing in one volume a scientifically sound theory of psychopathology and a practical treatment model, the book features detailed clinical guidelines as well as numerous case examples demonstrating the approach in action.

Steven C. Hayes, PhD, is Nevada Foundation Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Nevada. His career has focused on the analysis of the nature of human language and cognition and its application to the understanding and alleviation of human suffering. Kirk D. Strosahl, PhD, is a primary care psychologist at Central Washington Family Medicine, in Yakima, Washington, where he is promoting the use of ACT in general medical practice with predominantly low-income underinsured or uninsured clients. Kelly G. Wilson, PhD, is Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Mississippi, where he is also Director of the Center for Contextual Psychology and the ACT Treatment Development Group.

I. Foundations and the Model 1. The Dilemma of Human Suffering 2. The Foundations of ACT: Taking a Functional Contextual Approach 3. Psychological Flexibility as a Unified Model of Human Functioning II. Functional Analysis and Approach to Intervention 4. Case Formulation: Listening with ACT Ears, Seeing with ACT Eyes, with Emily K. Sandoz 5. The Therapeutic Relationship in ACT 6. Creating a Context for Change: Mind versus Experience III. Core Clinical Processes 7. Present-Moment Awareness, with Emily K. Sandoz 8. Dimensions of Self 9. Defusion 10. Acceptance 11. Connecting with Values 12. Committed Action IV. Building a Progressive Scientific Approach 13. Contextual Behavioral Science and the Future of ACT