Posted by pseudoname on April 28, 2006, at 11:55:52
In reply to Re: mattw84 and ACT » pseudoname, posted by Phillipa on April 27, 2006, at 19:12:03
Hey, Phillipa. Guess we got redirected, LOL.
> Sometimes I just don't get things unless them are very simplistic.
Yeah, me too. Unfortunately Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) seem really tricky to make simplistic — at least at first. It actually is simple, just an unusual way of thinking about psychological pain.
> I believe ACT is realizing you have a problem and accepting it instead of fighting it. I know mattw84 posted easlier and he knows all about it.
Thanks again for the tip about Matt. I hadn't seen anything by him about ACT. Do you talk to him offline?
On the ACT forum, a guy recently described ACT this way: “I think it is precisely about paying attention to the ‘symptoms’ (the feelings and thoughts which keep your life imprisoned), seeing them as what they are (just feelings and thoughts, some pleasant, some unpleasant, definitely a part of life, and definitely *not* accurate reflections of ‘yourself’, whoever that is), allowing them to exist just as they are, while moving ahead with whatever you want to do.”
Our rotten thoughts and feelings become, in a way, a lot more human & personal when we stop fighting them off and start mindfully paying attention to them. They may or may not reduce in intensity, but our relationship to them changes.
But that's the feeling & thoughts inside you. We do NOT necessarily have to accept or just put up with external problems in our lives, like being alone, being broke, being ill, having job and family stresses, etc. In fact, we can often better see how to solve those problems when we stop struggling against fully experiencing our unpleasant emotional reactions to them.
I'm afraid people think ACT means “toughing it out”. Actually, that's what people try to do normally. ACT says, don't tough it out. Feel it fully but realize that the bad feeling is something separate from yourself. In a way, bad feelings never even touch “You”.
There's more at the ACT web area: http://www.contextualpsychology.org
And at the ACT public forum: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/ACT_for_the_Public/messages
And in the books. The author, Hayes, has even started a sermon area next to his books at Amazon: "Get Out of Your Mind and into Your Life"
poster:pseudoname
thread:637795
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20060422/msgs/637822.html