Developed over decades of ongoing clinical research, acceptance-based behavioral therapy (ABBT) is a flexible framework with proven effectiveness for treating anxiety disorders and co-occurring problems. This authoritative guide provides a complete overview of ABBT along with practical guidelines for assessment, case formulation, and individualized intervention. Clinicians learn powerful ways to help clients reduce experiential avoidance; cultivate acceptance, self-compassion, and mindful awareness; and increase engagement in personally meaningful behaviors. Illustrated with vivid case material, the book includes 29 reproducible handouts and forms. Purchasers get access to a companion website where they can download printable copies of the reproducible materials and audio recordings of guided meditation practices. A separate website for clients includes the audio recordings only.

Developed over decades of ongoing clinical research, acceptance-based behavioral therapy (ABBT) is a flexible framework with proven effectiveness for treating anxiety disorders and co-occurring problems. This authoritative guide provides a complete overview of ABBT along with practical guidelines for assessment, case formulation, and individualized intervention. Clinicians learn powerful ways to help clients reduce experiential avoidance; cultivate acceptance, self-compassion, and mindful awareness; and increase engagement in personally meaningful behaviors. Illustrated with vivid case material, the book includes 29 reproducible handouts and forms. Purchasers get access to a companion website where they can download printable copies of the reproducible materials and audio recordings of guided meditation practices. A separate website for clients includes the audio recordings only.

For many years, cognitive-behavioral techniques have been at the forefront of treatment for anxiety disorders. More recently, strategies rooted in Eastern concepts of acceptance and mindfulness have have demonstrated some promise in treating anxiety, especially in tandem with CBT. Now, with Acceptance-Based Behavioral Therapies for Anxiety, thirty expert clinicians and researchers present a comprehensive guide to integrating these powerful complementary approaches—where they match, when they differ, and why they work so well together. Chapter authors clearly place mindfulness and acceptance into the clinical lexicon, establishing links with established traditions, including emotion theory and experiential therapy. In addition, separate chapters discuss specific anxiety disorders, the current state of treatment for each, and practical ways of integrating acceptance and mindfulness approaches into therapy.

Acceptance and commitment therapy, or ACT (pronounced as a word rather than letters), is an emerging psychotherapeutic technique first developed into a complete system in the book Acceptance and Commitment Therapy by Steven Hayes, Kirk Strosahl, and Kelly Wilson. ACT marks what some call a third wave in behavior therapy. To understand what this means, it helps to know that the first wave refers to traditional behavior therapy, which works to replace harmful behaviors with constructive ones through a learning principle called conditioning. Cognitive therapy, the second wave of behavior therapy, seeks to change problem behaviors by changing the thoughts that cause and perpetuate them. In the third wave, behavior therapists have begun to explore traditionally nonclinical treatment techniques like acceptance, mindfulness, cognitive defusion, dialectics, values, spirituality, and relationship development. These therapies reexamine the causes and diagnoses of psychological problems, the treatment goals of psychotherapy, and even the definition of mental illness itself. ACT earns its place in the third wave by reevaluating the traditional assumptions and goals of psychotherapy. The theoretical literature on which ACT is based questions our basic understanding of mental illness. It argues that the static condition of even mentally healthy individuals is one of suffering and struggle, so our grounds for calling one behavior 'normal' and another 'disordered' are murky at best. Instead of focusing on diagnosis and symptom etiology as a foundation for treatment-a traditional approach that implies, at least on some level, that there is something 'wrong' with the client-ACT therapists begin treatment by encouraging the client to accept without judgment the circumstances of his or her life as they are. Then therapists guide clients through a process of identifying a set of core values. The focus of therapy thereafter is making short and long term commitments to act in ways that affirm and further this set of values. Generally, the issue of diagnosing and treating a specific mental illness is set aside; in therapy, healing comes as a result of living a value-driven life rather than controlling or eradicating a particular set of symptoms. Emerging therapies like ACT are absolutely the most current clinical techniques available to therapists. They are quickly becoming the focus of major clinical conferences, publications, and research. More importantly, these therapies represent an exciting advance in the treatment of mental illness and, therefore, a real opportunity to alleviate suffering and improve people's lives. Not surprisingly, many therapists are eager to include ACT in their practices. ACT is well supported by theoretical publications and clinical research; what it has lacked, until the publication of this book, is a practical guide showing therapists exactly how to put these powerful new techniques to work for their own clients. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Anxiety Disorders adapts the principles of ACT into practical, step-by-step clinical methods that therapists can easily integrate into their practices. The book focuses on the broad class of anxiety disorders, the most common group of mental illnesses, which includes general anxiety, panic disorder, phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Written with therapists in mind, this book is easy to navigate, allowing busy professionals to find the information they need when they need it. It includes detailed examples of individual therapy sessions as well as many worksheets and exercises, the very important 'homework' clients do at home to reinforce work they do in the office. The book comes with a CD-ROM that includes electronic versions of all of the worksheets in the book as well as PowerPoint and audio features that make learning and teaching these techniques easy and engagin

Accessible and practical, this book provides a unified framework for integrating acceptance and mindfulness into cognitive-behavioral practice. The authors interweave elements of acceptance and commitment therapy, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, mindfulness-based relapse prevention, and dialectical behavior therapy. They demonstrate how to conduct an assessment, develop a case formulation, and derive a flexible treatment plan for each patient. Vivid case examples and transcripts illustrate the entire process of therapy, showing how treatment can be tailored for different presenting problems and concerns. More than two dozen reproducible handouts and forms are included.

Praise for Acceptance and Mindfulness in Cognitive Behavior Therapy: Understanding and Applying the New Therapies "One of the most fruitful aspects of the encounter between classical Buddhist knowledge and modern science has been the emergence of new therapeutic and educational approaches that integrate contemplative practice, such as mindfulness, and contemporary psychology methods, such as those of cognitive therapy. The systematic approach of this book, wherein the insights of both classical Buddhist and contemporary psychology are integrated, represents a most beneficial and powerful method of ensuring a healthy mind and heart." —His Holiness the Dalai Lama "What has been missing in the midst of partisan battles between orthodox CBT therapists and enthusiastic proponents of newer acceptance/mindfulness approaches is a reasoned, scientifically grounded discourse that would help researchers and clinicians alike sort through the various claims and counterclaims. This book, skillfully conceived and edited by James Herbert and Evan Forman, provides just such a sober and open-minded appraisal of a trend that has sometimes suffered both from too much hype from one side and too sweeping a rejection by the other. This volume encourages careful consideration of both positions and can advance evidence-based psychosocial therapy both conceptually and procedurally to the benefit of all." —From the Foreword by Gerald C. Davison, PhD, University of Southern California Acceptance and Mindfulness in Cognitive Behavior Therapy: Understanding and Applying the New Therapies brings together a renowned group of leading figures in CBT who address key issues and topics, including: Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy Metacognitive therapy Mindfulness-based stress reduction Dialectical behavior therapy Understanding acceptance and commitment therapy in context

This volume examines the role of mindfulness principles and practices in a range of well-established cognitive and behavioral treatment approaches. Leading scientist-practitioners describe how their respective modalities incorporate such nontraditional themes as mindfulness, acceptance, values, spirituality, being in relationship, focusing on the present moment, and emotional deepening. Coverage includes acceptance and commitment therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, integrative behavioral couple therapy, behavioral activation, and functional analytic psychotherapy. In every chapter, the authors describe their clinical methods and goals, articulate their theoretical models, and examine similarities to and differences from other approaches both inside and outside behavior therapy.