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.
Trauma-Focused ACT is going to go down as one of the great contributions to the field of trauma-informed care.
--Kirk Strosahl PhD, cofounder of ACT
Discover cutting-edge strategies for healing the past, living in the present, and building a new future. With this compassion-based, exposure-centered approach, you'll learn how to help your clients:
Radically open dialectical behavior therapy (RO DBT) is a groundbreaking, transdiagnostic treatment model for clients with difficult-to-treat overcontrol (OC) disorders, such as anorexia nervosa, chronic depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Written by the founder of RO DBT, Thomas Lynch, this is the first and only session-by-session training manual to help you implement this evidence-based therapy in your practice.
As a clinician, you're familiar with dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) and its success in treating clients with emotion dysregulation disorders. But what about clients with overcontrol disorders? OC has been linked to social isolation, aloof and distant relationships, cognitive rigidity, risk aversion, a strong need for structure, inhibited emotional expression, and hyper-perfectionism. And yet--perhaps due to the high value our society places on the capacity to delay gratification and inhibit public displays of destructive emotions and impulses--problems linked with OC have received little attention or been misunderstood. Indeed, people with OC are often considered highly successful by others, even as they suffer silently and alone.
RO DBT is based on the premise that psychological well-being involves the confluence of three factors: receptivity, flexibility, and social-connectedness. RO DBT addresses each of these important factors, and is the first treatment in the world to prioritize social-signaling as the primary mechanism of change based on a transdiagnostic, neuroregulatory model linking the communicative function of human emotions to the establishment of social connectedness and well-being. As such, RO DBT is an invaluable resource for treating an array of disorders that center around overcontrol and a lack of social connectedness--such as anorexia nervosa, chronic depression, postpartum depression, treatment-resistant anxiety disorders, autism spectrum disorders, as well as personality disorders such as avoidant, dependent, obsessive-compulsive, and paranoid personality disorder.
In this training manual, you'll find an outline of RO DBT, including history, research, and how it differs from traditional DBT. You'll also find a session-by-session RO DBT outpatient treatment protocol, with sections that outline the weekly, one-hour individual therapy sessions and weekly two-and-a-half hour skills training classes that occur over a period of approximately thirty weeks. This includes instructor guidelines and user-friendly worksheets.
The feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of RO DBT is evidence-based and informed by over twenty years of translational treatment development research. This important manual--along with its companion book, Radically Open Dialectical Behavior Therapy (available separately), distills the essential components of RO DBT into a workable program you can start using right away to improve treatment outcomes for clients suffering with OC.
Transgender and gender nonconforming (TNGC) clients have complex mental health concerns, and are more likely than ever to seek out treatment. This comprehensive resource outlines the latest research and recommendations to provide you with the requisite knowledge, skills, and awareness to treat TNGC clients with competent and affirming care.
As you know, TNGC clients have different needs based on who they are in relation to the world. Written by three psychologists who specialize in working with the TGNC population, this important book draws on the perspective that there is no one-size-fits-all approach for working with TNGC clients. It offers interventions tailored to developmental stages and situational factors--for example, cultural intersections such as race, class, and religion.
This book provides up-to-date information on language, etiquette, and appropriate communication and conduct in treating TGNC clients, and discusses the history, cultural context, and ethical and legal issues that can arise in working with gender-diverse individuals in a clinical setting. You'll also find information about informed consent approaches that call for a shift in the role of the mental health provider in the position of assessment and referral for the purposes of gender-affirming medical care (such as hormones, surgery, and other procedures).
As changes in recent transgender health care and insurance coverage have provided increased access for a broader range of consumers, it is essential to understand transgender and gender nonconforming clients' different needs. This book provides practical exercises and skills you can use to help TNGC clients thrive.
In this much-needed guide, a clinical psychologist and a social worker provide a flexible, ten-week protocol based in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to help adolescents overcome mental health hurdles and thrive.
If you're a clinician working with adolescents, you understand the challenges this population faces. But sometimes it can be difficult to establish connection in therapy. To help, ACT for Adolescents offers the first effective professional protocol for facilitating ACT with adolescents in individual therapy, along with modifications for a group setting.
In this book, you'll find invaluable strategies for connecting meaningfully with your client in session, while at the same time arriving quickly and safely to the clinical issues your client is facing. You'll also find an overview of the core processes of ACT so you can introduce mindfulness into each session and help your client choose values-based action. Using the protocol outlined in this book, you'll be able to help your client overcome a number of mental health challenges from depression and anxiety to eating disorders and trauma.
If you work with adolescent clients, the powerful and effective step-by-step exercises in this book are tailored especially for you. This is a must-have addition to your professional library.
This book includes audio downloads.
Edited by Steven C. Hayes and Stefan G. Hofmann, and based on the new training standards developed by the Inter-Organizational Task Force on Cognitive and Behavioral Psychology Doctoral Education, this groundbreaking textbook presents the core competencies of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in an innovative, practically applicable way, with contributions from some of the luminaries in the field of behavioral science.
CBT is one of the most proven-effective and widely used forms of psychotherapy today. But while there are plenty of books that provide an overview of CBT, this is the first to present the newest recommendations set forth by a special task force of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies--and that focuses on the application of these interventions based on a variety of approaches for doctoral-level education and training. Starting with an exploration of the science and theoretical foundations of CBT, then moving into a thorough presentation of the clinical processes, this book constitutes an accessible, comprehensive guide to grasping and using even the most difficult competencies.
Each chapter of Process-Based CBT is written by a leading authority in that field, and their combined expertise presents the best of behavior therapy and analysis, cognitive therapy, and the acceptance and mindfulness therapies. Most importantly, in addition to gaining an up-to-date understanding of the core processes, with this premiere text you'll learn exactly how to put them into practice for maximum efficacy.
For practitioners, researchers, students, instructors, and other professionals working with CBT, this breakthrough textbook--poised to set the standard in coursework and training--provides the guidance you need to fully comprehend and utilize the core competencies of CBT in a way that honors the behavioral, cognitive, and acceptance and mindfulness wings of the tradition.
Based on over twenty years of research, radically open dialectical behavior therapy (RO DBT) is a breakthrough, transdiagnostic approach for helping people suffering from extremely difficult-to-treat emotional overcontrol (OC) disorders, such as anorexia nervosa, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and treatment-resistant depression. Written by the founder of RO DBT, Thomas Lynch, this comprehensive volume outlines the core theories of RO DBT, and provides a framework for implementing RO DBT in individual therapy.
While traditional dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) has shown tremendous success in treating people with emotion dysregulation, there have been few resources available for treating those with overcontrol disorders. OC has been linked to social isolation, aloof and distant relationships, cognitive rigidity, risk aversion, a strong need for structure, inhibited emotional expression, and hyper-perfectionism. And yet--perhaps due to the high value our society places on the capacity to delay gratification and inhibit public displays of destructive emotions and impulses--problems linked with OC have received little attention or been misunderstood. Indeed, people with OC are often considered highly successful by others, even as they suffer silently and alone.
RO DBT is based on the premise that psychological well-being involves the confluence of three factors: receptivity, flexibility, and social-connectedness. RO DBT addresses each of these important factors, and is the first treatment in the world to prioritize social-signaling as the primary mechanism of change based on a transdiagnostic, neuroregulatory model linking the communicative function of human emotions to the establishment of social connectedness and well-being. As such, RO DBT is an invaluable resource for treating an array of disorders that center around overcontrol and a lack of social connectedness--such as anorexia nervosa, chronic depression, postpartum depression, treatment-resistant anxiety disorders, autism spectrum disorders, as well as personality disorders such as avoidant, dependent, obsessive-compulsive, and paranoid personality disorder.
Written for mental health professionals, professors, or simply those interested in behavioral health, this seminal book--along with its companion, The Skills Training Manual for Radically Open Dialectical Behavior Therapy (available separately)--provides everything you need to understand and implement this exciting new treatment in individual therapy--including theory, history, research, ongoing studies, clinical examples, and future directions.
Written by leading experts in language and cognition, this groundbreaking behavior analysis textbook brings the study of verbal behavior into the 21st century with cutting-edge research. Students and clinicians in the burgeoning field of applied behavior analysis will find the theoretical foundation they need to effectively help the increasingly diverse clients seeking their services.
The origins of behavior analysis can be traced to the pioneering work of B.F. Skinner. Skinner's fundamental insights into how human behavior is shaped, maintained, and can be changed were powerful and far-reaching. Some of Skinner's most innovative contributions were in the study of language. Behavior analytic work in the area of language and cognition did not stop with Skinner, however. Indeed, Skinner's work in this area has inspired considerable expansion, particularly with an eye toward more sophisticated verbal and cognitive repertoires.
This important volume provides an overview of the concepts and core behavioral processes involved in language and cognition. You'll find a deeper exploration of complex linguistic and cognitive skills, including generative responding, learning by observation, and perspective taking. Also included are clinically supported interventions based in mindfulness, psychological flexibility, and emotion regulation to help clients improve complex language, social, and academic skills.
The future of behavior analysis is here. With its focus on the importance of language and cognition, this textbook is a must-read for anyone studying or practicing in the science of behavior.
Written by an experienced educational and developmental psychologist, ACT for Treating Children offers clinicians clear, practical, brief, and developmentally appropriate strategies grounded in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to help children ages 5 to 12 learn effective coping skills, manage emotions, and bounce back from life's difficulties.
If you treat children struggling with mental health conditions such as depression or anxiety, you know that approaches designed for adults do not work with younger clients. ACT for Treating Children presents skills grounded in evidence-based ACT to help children regulate emotions and cope with the inevitable ups and downs of life, and is suitable for clinicians with no prior knowledge of or training in ACT, as well as seasoned ACT clinicians.
This practical clinician's guide outlines a simplified version of the ACT Hexaflex--a key component of this treatment model--called the Kidflex, to help young clients build resilience and psychological flexibility. You'll also find detailed case studies, transcripts, activities, experiential exercises, worksheets, and session plans to help you develop the skillset you need to help children overcome disorders such as stress, anxiety and depression. Finally, you'll find strategies for involving parents in treatment when appropriate, and enlisting them as 'ACT coaches' in the child's therapy.
It can be difficult to know where to start when using ACT for individual therapy with children. That's why the skills in this go-to guide are practical and easy-to-implement, can be done with children in both face-to-face therapy and online sessions, and are simple enough for children to put into practice in any setting--whether it's at home, in school, or out in the world.
Step-by-step guidance for implementing process-based therapy in practice
Evidence-based mental health treatments--including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)--have long been defined in terms of scientifically validated protocols focused on syndromes. This is rapidly changing. A process focus is now emerging for evidence-based therapies, as the era of protocols for syndromes, passes away. This groundbreaking book offers concrete strategies for adopting a process-based approach in your clinical practice, and provides step-by-step guidance for formulating effective treatment plans.
Written by renowned psychologists Steven C. Hayes and Stefan G. Hofmann, this manual will show you how to utilize the core competencies of process-based therapy (PBT) in a way that honors the behavioral, cognitive, and acceptance and mindfulness wings of CBT and builds bridges to other models. In the book, you'll find a comprehensive road map to the theoretical foundations of PBT, as well as techniques for creating customized treatments that address the unique needs of each client--leading to better therapeutic outcomes.
Whether you're a clinician or student of the behavioral sciences, this book has everything you need to understand and implement PBT in your work.Quickly master a proven-effective behavior therapy that will allow you to expand the effectiveness of your practice.
As a board-certified behavior analyst (BCBA), you work with a wide range of clients, particularly those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Some of these clients may not be verbal at all on one end of the spectrum, while some may have very advanced language skills on the other. For these clients and their families, you need a flexible and adaptable therapeutic framework to ensure the best behavior outcomes. Drawn from relational frame theory (RFT)--the psychological theory of human language--acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) can help.
With this definitive professional manual, you'll learn to conceptualize your cases using ACT, create your own exercises, generate metaphors, be present with the unique individual learner in front of you, and practice the core ACT skills flexibly to ensure better behavior outcomes for clients and their families. You'll find an overview of the theoretical connections between behavior analysis, RFT, and ACT, as well as the core act skills, including present-moment awareness, flexible perspective taking, committed action, and values work. Finally, you'll find information on cultural competency and diversity to help you service a wide range of clients.
If you're like many BCBAs, you need specialized resources when working with linguistically sophisticated clients, as well as their parents and caregivers. Let this book be your comprehensive guide to incorporating ACT into your work.
A comprehensive treatise on how to understand complex language, and use language effectively as a behavior analyst.
Language changes everything. From infancy through adulthood, language shapes how we live our lives and interact with other people, in increasingly complex ways. Language also shapes how we exist in the world as professionals--and how we operate as a profession. As behavior analysts working with others to effect change, words matter.
A comprehensive understanding of complex language is therefore critical to practicing effectively as a behavior analyst. Understanding the functions of complex language, allows us to skillfully use language as an intervention tool.
Relational frame theory (RFT) is a behavior analytic theory of human language. RFT suggests that the building block of human language and higher cognition is relating--in other words, the human ability to create links between one thing and another using words. Understanding and Applying Relational Frame Theory outlines the essential principles of RFT, and offers practical applications and tools to help clients live better lives and to establish the conditions necessary for all of us to thrive. With a central focus on establishing psychological flexibility, prosociality, and cooperative contexts for change, at all levels of analysis--from the self to overarching systems and cultures--in this book, you will:
Finally, you'll find a thorough discussion of how behavior analysts can use the principles outlined in this book to extend the reach of the field into a range of socially significant and critical areas for behavior change.
A comprehensive, transdiagnostic, and process-based approach to effectively integrate mindfulness into psychotherapy for treating trauma.
As you know, mindfulness is a powerful tool for treating a variety of mental health issues, from anxiety and depression to eating and substance use disorders. However, if you're a clinician treating clients who have suffered from trauma, you are also aware that mindfulness can sometimes cause significant stress or discomfort. So, how can you incorporate mindfulness into your treatment--safely and effectively--for improved outcomes?
Integrating Mindfulness into Psychotherapy for Trauma offers a transdiagnostic, process-based approach to treating trauma with mindfulness, with interventions that are practical, simple, and easy to teach--so you can help your clients gain new personal insights and make lasting positive change. You'll learn how to form individualized, trauma-informed case conceptualization and treatment plans, and integrate mindfulness into psychotherapy with a focus on four interconnected mindfulness mechanisms:
You'll also find a framework for targeting specific trauma symptoms, with an emphasis on when and how to effectively integrate mindfulness into sessions, and a variety of mindfulness practices to help your clients make and sustain treatment gains. Strategies for how to intervene when difficulties such as panic attacks or painful memories arise during a mindfulness practice are also provided, along with discussions of therapist mindfulness and trauma stewardship.
With this flexible, transdiagnostic approach, you'll be well equipped to integrate mindfulness into your practice to help your clients heal and make lasting change.
Efficiently target all dimensions of your clients' emotion dysregulation for improved treatment outcomes.
There is extensive evidence highlighting the role of emotion dysregulation in numerous forms of psychopathology and maladaptive behaviors including depression, anxiety, PTSD, personality disorders, self-injury, disordered eating behaviors, and substance use, among others. Originally developed for treating self-injury among women with borderline personality disorder, research shows that acceptance-based emotion regulationtherapy is powerfully effective in treating emotion dysregulation and related psychiatric symptoms and self-destructive behaviors in a wide range of clients.
Acceptance-Based Emotion Regulation Therapy offers an empirically supported protocol that addresses all key dimensions of emotion regulation using evidence-based strategies drawn from dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and emotion-focused therapy (EFT), as well as basic behavioral principles--resulting in a treatment that is more targeted and far briefer than comprehensive DBT. After providing an overview of the conceptual and empirical underpinnings of this therapy, as well as the therapeutic stance underlying this treatment, this step-by-step guide will walk you through each of the fourteen sessions of this therapy, reviewing key concepts and specific strategies for teaching clients key emotion regulation skills.
Each chapter includes handouts and outside-of-session practice exercises and monitoring forms to help clients practice the skills and integrate them into their lives. Chapters also include discussion of common sticking points or challenges that can arise when teaching clients these skills, as well as tips for addressing these in an effective, treatment consistent manner. You'll also learn strategies for helping clients maintain treatment gains and prevent relapse. With this comprehensive protocol, you'll be fully equipped to treat psychiatric symptoms stemming from emotion dysregulation, self-destructive behaviors serving an emotion-regulating function, and emotion dysregulation more broadly.
If you've been searching for an emotion regulation therapy that efficiently and effectively targets all the core dimensions of emotion dysregulation driving your clients' symptoms and clinical difficulties, this comprehensive guide has everything you need to help your clients improve their emotion regulation, maintain treatment gains, prevent relapse, and build meaningful lives.
As a mental health clinician, you know that every client is unique, and a client's symptoms are the result of a complex combination of psychological, environmental, genetic, and neural factors. However, the de facto DSM model poses considerable constraints on how you can treat clients--often resulting in a one-size-fits-all diagnosis. This important volume challenges the assumptions and approach made by the DSM, and provides a vision and plan for an evidence-based, process-based approach to individualized care.
With contributions from renowned experts in the field--including Steven C. Hayes, Stefan G. Hofmann, Joseph Ciarrochi, Matthew McKay, Uma Vaidyanathan, Sarah Morris, David Sommers, J. Scott Fraser, and many more--this groundbreaking book will show you a new way to recognize the complexity of human suffering and human prosperity. You'll find solid tips for treating a wide variety of psychological issues in a more flexible way. And, finally, you'll come away with a greater understanding of the processes of change, and how to build a solid foundation for an alternative to syndromal diagnosis.
The future of mental health treatment is process-based. Whether you're a clinician, researcher, student, instructor, or other professional working in the mental health field, this breakthrough volume offers everything you need to understand process-based treatment and create a more customized and effective approach to treating clients.
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.
A comprehensive guide to the work of Jacob Robert Kantor, and a must-have for anyone interested in behavior analysis or cognitive behavioral science.
Often overlooked or misunderstood, the work of American psychologist Jacob Robert Kantor is finally being recognized for its contribution to contextual behavior sciences. This important volume brings Kantor's prescient work into the twenty-first century, teaching readers the foundations and unique features of interbehaviorism in a straightforward way, and exploring the profound effects it has in applied domains like perspective-taking, feelings and emotions, interpersonal relationships, and more.
In this volume, you'll find detailed explanations of Kantor's theory, as well as its research assumptions and foundations. Whether you're a behavior therapist, contextual behavior scientist, behavior analyst, student of behavior analysis, or simply interested in the history of interbehaviorism and its modern applications, this book is an essential addition to your professional library.
Two leading experts in eating disorders offer a comprehensive, evidence-based, and fully customizable program, Integrative Modalities Therapy (IMT), for treating adolescents with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating.
If you treat adolescents with eating disorders, you need a flexible treatment plan that can be tailored to your patient's individual needs, and which fully incorporates the adolescent's family or caregivers. This book offers a holistic approach to recovery that can be used in inpatient or outpatient settings, with individuals and with groups.
The groundbreaking and integrative program, Integrative Modalities Therapy (IMT), outlined in this professional guide draws on several evidence-based therapies, including Maudsley family-based treatment (FBT), cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), compassion-focused therapy (CFT), exposure therapy, and appetite awareness training. This fully customizable approach meets the patient where they are--emotionally and cognitively--throughout the process of recovery.
This book covers all aspects of the recovery process, including navigating family issues, meal planning, and more. Handouts and downloads are also included that provide solid interventions for clinicians and checklists for family members.