Get Out of Your Mind & Into Your Life

by Hayes, Steven C.; Smith, Spencer

• ISBN13: 9781572244252
• ISBN10: 1572244259
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-10-01
• Publisher: New Harbinger Pubns Inc

Summary

This book develops acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), a revolutionary and exciting new direction in psychotherapy, into step-by-step exercises readers can use to get relief from emotional pain. Written by ACT's founding theorist, the book offers a self-help program proven to be effective for coping with a range of problems, from anxiety to depression, eating disorders to poor self-esteem.

Author Biography

Steven C. Hayes, Ph.D., is University of Nevada Foundation Professor of Psychology at the University of Nevada, Reno

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	1	(8)
Act: What It Is and How It Can Help You
Suffering: Psychological Quicksand
The Ubiquity of Human Suffering
Mindfulness, Acceptance, and Values
Commitment and Values-Based Living
Human Suffering	9	(8)
Human Suffering Is Universal
Exercise: Your Suffering Inventory
The Problem with Pain
Exercise: The Pain is Gone, Now What?
The Problem with Pain: Revisited
Living a Valued Life: An Alternative
Why Language Leads to Suffering	17	(16)
John T. Blackledge
The Nature of Human Language
Exercise: Relate Anything to Anything Else
Exercise: A Screw, a Toothbrush, and a Lighter
Why Language Creates Suffering
Exercise: A Yellow Jeep
Exercise: Don't Think About Your Thought
What You've Been Doing
Exercise: The Coping Strategies Worksheet
The Problem with Getting Rid of Things---Squared
Experiential Avoidance
The Mind-Train
The Pull of Avoidance	33	(10)
Julieann Pankey
Kathleen M. Palm
Why We Do What Can't Work
Accepting the Possibility That Experiential Avoidance Can't Work
So, What Are You Supposed to Do?
Exercise: The Blame Game
Exercise: Judging Your Own Experience: Examining What Works
Moving On
Exercise: What Are You Feeling and Thinking Now?
Letting Go	43	(10)
John T. Blackledge
Michael Ritter
If You're Not Willing to Have It, You Will
Acceptance and Willingness
Exercise: Why Willingness?
Willingness and Distress
Exercise: Being Willingly Out of Breath
The ``Willingness to Change'' Question
The Trouble with Thoughts	53	(16)
Jason Lillis
Thought Production
Exercise: What Are You Thinking Right Now?
Why Thinking Has Such an Impact
Exercise: Your Daily Pain Diary
Looking at Your Thoughts Rather Than from Your Thoughts
The Mind-Train
Exercise: Watching the Mind-Train
Having a Thought Versus Buying a Thought	69	(18)
John T. Blackledge
Jason Lillis
Cognitive Defusion: Separating Your Thoughts from Their Referents
Exercise: Say the Word ``Milk'' as Fast as You Can
Exercise: Labeling Your Thoughts
Exercise: Floating Leaves on a Moving Stream
Exercise: Describing Thoughts and Feelings
Exercise: Exploring the Difference Between Descriptions and Evaluations
Creating Your Own Cognitive Defusion Techniques
If I'm Not My Thoughts, Then Who Am I?	87	(18)
Considering Your Self-Conceptualizations
The Three Senses of Self
Exercise: Retelling Your Own Story
Being the Observing Self
Exercise: Experientially, I'm Not That
Getting Started
Exercise: Tracking Your Thoughts in Time
Taking the Next Step
Mindfulness	105	(16)
Daily Practice
The Practice
Exercise: Be Where You Are
Exercise: Silent Walking
Exercise: Cubbyholing
Exercise: Eating Raising
Exercise: Drinking Tea
Exercise: Eating Mindfully
Exercise: Listening to Classical Music
Exercise: Be Mindful of Your Feet While You Read This
Exercise: Just Sitting
Mindfulness in Context
What Willingness Is and Is Not	121	(12)
Michael Ritter
John T. Blackledge
What Needs to Be Accepted?
Exercise: What Needs to Be Accepted
The Goal of Willingness
Willingness: Learning How to Jump	133	(20)
Michael Ritter
The Willingness Scale
Taking a Jump
Exercise: Willingness Scale Worksheet
Using Your Skills and Learning Some New Ones
Exercise: Physicalizing
Exercise: Giving Your Target a Form
Exercise: The Tin-Can Monster
Exercise: Acceptance in Real-Time
What Are Values?	153	(12)
Values as Chosen Life Directions
What Values Are and Are Not
Choosing Your Values	165	(12)
The Masters You Serve
Exercise: Attending Your Own Funeral
Taking It a Step Further: Ten Valued Domains
Ranking and Testing Your Values
Committed Action
Committing to Doing It	177	(18)
Jason Lillis
Michael Twohig
Taking Bold Steps
Exercise: Goals Worksheet
Exercise: Making Goals Happen Through Action
Exercise: Expected Barriers
Many Maps for Different Journeys
Building Patterns of Effective Action
Whose Life Is It Anyway?
Conclusion: The Choice to Live a Vital Life	195	(4)
David Chantry
Appendix: The Values and Data Underlying ACT	199	(4)
References	203