Learning Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: The Essential Guide to the Process and Practice of Mindful Psychiatry

"The traditional practice of psychiatry has been focused on reducing or eliminating distressing, unwanted symptoms. But what if the key to health and well-being is not to be symptom free, but rather to function effectively in life even when symptoms are present? What if symptoms serve an adaptive and motivational function, rather than being signals of a latent illness? What if the key to personal health is the ability to accept symptoms for what they are and to do what matters in life at the same time?This is the underlying proposition of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and this book-a collaboration among six clinicians from diverse practice backgrounds-is the first to systematically describe the principles and practices of ACT as they apply to psychiatric assessment, case analysis, and treatment. Learning Acceptance and Commitment Therapy uses a diverse array of case examples and clinical dialogues to offer readers a real-life view of the methodology in practice. Each chapter also includes additional reading resources to pursue should a particular theoretical or applied clinical concept create a desire to learn more. Additionally, readers have unlimited access to an online instructional library that includes video demonstrations of core ACT clinical strategies "in action" as well as a host of written practice support tools and worksheets"--

Debrin P. Goubert, M.D. is a psychiatrist with Northwest Permanente/Kaiser Permanente NW in Clackamas, Oregon.

Niklas Törneke, M.D. is a psychiatrist in private practice in Kopingsvik, Sweden.

Robert Purssey, M.D., FRANZCP, is the director of the Brisbane ACT Centre as well as clinical senior lecturer with the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia.

Josephine Loftus, M.D., MRCPsych, is the head of the Mood Disorder Unit and Expert Bipolar Centre in the Department of Psychiatry at Centre Hospitalier Princesse Grace in Monaco.

Laura Weiss Roberts, M.D., M.A., DLFAPA, FACLP, is chairman and Katharine Dexter McCormick and Stanley McCormick Memorial professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine in Stanford, California.

Kirk D. Strosahl, Ph.D., is president of HeartMatters Consulting, LLC, in Wheeler Oregon.