ACTivate Your Life: Using acceptance and mindfulness to build a life that is rich, fulfilling and fun - Softcover

Oliver, Joe; Hill, Jon; Morris, Eric

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1472111915 ISBN 13: 9781472111913

Publisher: Constable & Robinson, 2016

Synopsis

ACTivate Your Life focuses on helping people to be more open, connected and engaged with their lives, demonstrating how Acceptance Commitment Therapy can be used to tackle a range of problems such as low self-esteem, anxiety, anger and depression, as well as providing skills for life enhancement and self-development.

Readers are encouraged to consider what matters to them and will learn techniques to set life directions based on meaningful values. Readers will also be introduced to mindfulness and learn how to use it in everyday life to connect with their actions, experiences and the people around them. The ACT approach also teaches that it's a normal part of being human to have thoughts and feelings that are unpleasant and the most important thing is to respond effectively when these kinds of experiences arise.

The book is aimed at anyone wanting to enhance their life skills, and character stories are used to demonstrate the spectrum of how they might be employed.

About this title

About the Author

JOE OLIVER is a clinical psychologist and Director for Contextual Consulting, a London-based consultancy offering ACT focused training, supervision and psychological therapy. He has also worked within the UK National Health Service for over 10 years and holds a position within a North London NHS Trust.
JON HILL is a corporate trainer and executive coach. He works with companies to help them develop leaders and employees who are healthy, resilient and psychologically flexible.
ERIC MORRIS is a clinical psychologist and researcher based in Melbourne, Australia. Eric has extensive experience in providing contextual cognitive behaviour therapies (including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) to individuals and groups, along with training and supervising therapists.

Review

This outstanding new book allows you to use the ACT approach to bring a greater sense of meaning, purpose, and vitality into your own life right now. This is an excellent resource for anyone struggling with anxiety, worry, depression, lack of self-esteem, loss of life direction, or anger issues. However, I want to be bold here and suggest that everyone should read this book. Why? Because it shows how modern psychology views the human condition, and illustrates how to relate skilfully to the strange internal world of thought and emotion that we all experience. - Dr. Paul Flaxman, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, City University London and author of The Mindful and Effective Employee

This book is not a magic wand that will effortlessly free you from all of your problems: it invites you to actively participate in what could be hard personal work. Written with great wisdom and expertise, but also from a place of compassion and full of our common humanity, Oliver, Hill & Morris have placed in your hands a supremely practical resource for changing how you approach your life, and building a more meaningful and fully-lived existence. - Dr. David Gillanders, Academic Director, Doctoral Programme in Clinical Psychology, University of Edinburgh

ACTivate Your Life with this fantastic new self-help book. Based on the revolutionary new therapy - Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) - this comprehensive workbook will help you to effortlessly navigate your way through the challenges in your life and transform it for the better. Whether you simply feel a little stuck or are chronically depressed, the three simple steps (Open, Aware and Active), case studies and worksheets will support you on your journey to enjoying life again. - Dr. Guy Meadows, author of The Sleep Book

The human mind does not come with an owner's manual, but this book covers much of what you need to know. It shows how just three critical skills can be cultivated and used that will make a profound difference in your life - addressing problems like depression, anxiety, anger and low self-esteem. Simple and clear, it gives you the tools to move forward, now. - Prof. Steven C. Hayes, co-developer of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and author of Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life

Psychological suffering is inevitably interwoven into human life and this book addresses that simple truth. Although it is only natural to not want to suffer, desperate attempts to blow out the flame of emotional suffering often make it even bigger. ACTivate Your Life proposes how to deal with our vulnerabilities, weaknesses and imperfections without struggle, and teaches us how to meet them with gentleness and self-compassion. The book can be used by everyone as a guide to navigating a wide range of common psychological problems and challenges, such as depression, anxiety, anger and low self-esteem. - Stanislaw Malicki, Senior licensed clinical psychologist and peer-reviewed ACT trainer, Akershus University Hospital, Norway

Destined to become an ACT self-help classic, ACTivate Your Life provides a witty and charming delivery of ACT concepts that brings the reader along in a compassionate and gentle style. The examples are easy to identify with and the exercises well-timed. A great way to be introduced to the ACT model and an excellent contribution from creative and influential authors in the ACT field. - Dr. Louise McHugh, Lecturer in the School of Psychology, University College Dublin and author of The Self & Perspective Taking

All the latest research and a wealth of clinical experience have gone into this book. Clear, friendly language, fun illustrations and easy to use worksheets cut through the tangle of difficult thoughts and feelings so many people struggle with and allow themselves to be held back by. A state of the art, logical and supportive book that reassures you that you are not a freak for struggling in the first place, helps you identify the unhelpful strategies that drive and maintain your difficulties, builds your resilience and unlocks your potential. - Suzy Dittmar, ACT Therapist, London

ACT helps me when I'm struggling or having a tough day, and it helps clients I work with too. This book uses new metaphors, reframes 'classic' ACT images and presents realistic examples to explain the concepts in a way that makes them understandable and worth trying. I will recommend this to clients and friends. - Dr. Ben Sedley, clinical psychologist and author of Stuff That Sucks

Edition details

• Publisher: Constable & Robinson
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1472111915
• ISBN 13: 9781472111913
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 480