This user-friendly workbook provides adults with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), the tools they need to move beyond their disorder using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and it also serves as compact text for clinicians/practitioners to use with clients suffering from OCD at any point in treatment. The workbook offers readers hands-on ACT and Exposure Response Prevention (ERP) skills for taming disturbing obsessions and filling the gap of where one stands and where one wants to go. Dr. Zurita provides evidence-based exercises to guide adults through the process of ACT. This includes learning to step back from one’s thoughts and memories, opening up to all types of unwanted thoughts and feelings, paying attention to the physical world, observing one’s thoughts and feelings, getting rid of barriers to values-based living, and developing consistent patterns of values-based behavior. Written from the office of a full-time therapist in a simple, uncomplicated, and unpretentious manner, this workbook will be useful for all clients suffering from OCD and for the therapists who work with them.
Using mindfulness-based techniques and cognitive behavioral tools, a leading expert on the use of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) teaches readers to transcend the experience of chronic pain by reconnecting with other, more valued aspects of their lives.
The mystery of life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced. - Zen saying While the pain and suffering of trauma can seem unbearable, every day we see examples of people who have found a way not only to survive their experiences but also to really live their life to the fullest. This book is about finding your way back to your valued life. In Finding Life Beyond Trauma we hope to help you to move toward living a vital, rich, and awake life.
Professionals who work with patients and clients struggling with chronic pain will benefit from this values-based behavior change program for managing the effects of pain. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Chronic Pain addresses case formulation and clinical techniques for working with pain patients through a combination of practical instruction and a treatment scenario narrative that follows a patient through an ACT-based intervention. An invaluable resource for rehabilitation specialists, psychologists, physicians, nurses, and others.
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
Traditionally, obsessive-compulsive disorder has been classified as an anxiety disorder, but there is increasing evidence that it has schizotypal features ? in other words it is a belief disorder. This book describes the ways in which reasoning can be applied to OCD for effective treatment regimes. It moves comprehensively through theoretical, experimental, clinical and treatment aspects of reasoning research, and contains a detailed treatment manual of great value to practitioners, including assessment and treatment protocols and case studies
This workbook, based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Exposure Response Prevention (ERP), teaches teens with OCD new skills to handle the stream of pesky obsessions that show up in their mind. It presents the Choice Point - a tool to help teens choose how to handle those tricky moments when dealing with unwanted thoughts. Chapter by chapter, teens learn powerful skills to unhook from their obsessions, including exposure exercises and strategies for accepting their emotions, and complete activities to help them overcome their compulsions, avoidant behaviors, and requests for accommodations. With real-life examples and tons of fun activities, this workbook shows that fears, worry and nervousness are a part of life and gives teens the skills to choose how to respond to their obsessions and move towards the stuff they really care about. Making applying ACT and ERP skills fun, it encourages them to face their fears and live life to the full.
Stand up to your OCD! The ACT Workbook for OCD combines evidence-based acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) with exposure and response prevention (ERP) for the most up-to-date, effective treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). If you’re one of millions of people who suffer from OCD, you may experience obsessive, intrusive, or even disturbing thoughts. You may engage in compulsive or ritualistic behaviors, such as checking to make sure you’ve locked the front door, or endlessly washing your hands for fear of germs or contamination. And you may be tempted to give up if treatment just doesn’t work for you. Whether you’ve just received a diagnosis, or have suffered for years, this workbook can help. Using the powerful and proven-effective treatments in this guide, you’ll learn what type of OCD you suffer from (such as harm OCD), how to identify the underlying mechanisms of your OCD, move through triggering incidents while staying present and connected to your values, be more aware and flexible, tolerate uncertainty, and commit to behaviors that ultimately allow you to lead a full, rewarding life. Once you realize what really matters to you, you’ll find the motivation needed to start on the path to psychological well-being. If you’re ready to be courageous, take a risk, and stand up to your OCD symptoms, this workbook can help guide you, every step of the way.
A powerful CBT approach to help you find freedom from obsessive relationship anxiety, doubt, and fear of commitment Do you obsess over your partner’s flaws? Does thinking about the future of your relationship leave you imagining the worst-case scenario? When it comes to navigating the world of romantic relationships, some feelings of anxiety, doubt, and fear are to be expected. But if your fears so extreme that they threaten to destroy an otherwise healthy relationship, you may have relationship OCD—a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) that causes chronic obsessive doubt and anxiety in relationships. So, how can you free yourself to discover deeper intimacy and security? Relationship OCD offers an evidence-based, cognitive behavioral approach to finding relief from relationship anxiety, obsessive doubt, and fear of commitment. You’ll learn to challenge the often-distorted thought patterns that trigger harmful emotions, increase your ability to think rationally, and ultimately accept the presence of intrusive thinking while maintaining the values of a healthy relationship. Relationships are the ultimate unknown. If you’re ready to let go of needing to know for sure, this book will help you find satisfaction and thrive in your romantic relationships—in all their wonderful uncertainty.
If you have obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), you might have an irrational fear of being contaminated by germs, or obsessively double-check things. You may even feel like a prisoner, trapped with your intrusive thoughts. And while OCD can have a devastating impact on your life, getting real help can be a challenge. Combining mindfulness practices with cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), The Mindfulness Workbook for OCD offers practical and accessible tools for managing the unwanted thoughts and compulsive urges that are associated with OCD. With this workbook, you will develop present-moment awareness, learn to challenge your own distorted thinking, and stop treating thoughts as threats and feelings as facts. This fully revised and updated second edition also includes new meditations, information, and chapters on emotional and mental contamination, existential obsessions, false memories, and more. If you’re ready to take back your life back from OCD—and start living with more joy in the moment—this workbook has everything you need to get started right away.
