Alexander, I think ACT has done quite well clinically. I think it now has surpassed Dialectical Behavior Therapy as the primary force in the “third wave” of behavioral/cognitive therapies. And I think it can be relatively easy to teach, if one focuses more on the application and the here and now aspects. What I mean is that some of the language it uses in terms of “self-as-context” and “cognitive fusion” and some of the ways it tries to teach folks as to how to be wary about language usage and why (technically grounded as it is in relational frame theory) is not super easy to learn. However, ACT in the therapy context where we are teaching people to be mindful of their thoughts from a more third person perspective, teaching people how to disentangle from their thoughts and stop fighting them directly and be more detached and accepting and how to be clear about your values and direct your energies toward them are quite easy to learn. And they are central principles that guide effective and mature psychological ways of being. Put from a more ego centric point of view, what is good and easy to teach in ACT is also very present in my integrative approach to psychological mindfulness, CALM MO (spoken as the word “calm”, followed by the two letter M then O) I also agree with you about your point that it is refreshing in how it fosters accountability and adult responsibility for one’s feelings and reactions rather than embracing “feelings as facts” and asserting that the environment is responsible for one’s subjective feelings of safety, regardless of how hypersensitive one may be. Both you and I agree that message can and in many places has already resulted in disaster. And, my argument is that it is one of the primary reasons we are seeing such a spike in anxiety in our youth, at least here in the US. The logical conclusion of it is massive infantilization and rewards for all who can say they were wounded the most. That said, I would be remiss if I did not point out that both the primary “fathers” of cognitive therapy (which is the second wave that comes before ACT), A. T. Beck and Albert Ellis, were also of this mindset, if they are read properly. That is, both were essentially stoics, and were deeply influenced by folks like Zeno and Marcus Aurelius. The basic assumption is that you are responsible for how you think and how you think sets the stage for how you act and feel. Thus, at the heart of both is adult responsibility, adaptive regulation, and a focus on downregulating victimized feelings. Indeed, this is why Jonathan Haidt, in his work The Coddling of the American Mind, emphasizes that the current focus on subjective “safetyism” is directly antithetical to the standard (stoic inspired) cognitive therapy approaches to mental health and psychological maturity. Best, Gregg From: tree of knowledge system discussion <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of Alexander Bard Sent: Friday, April 26, 2019 4:44 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: ACT CALMly Dear Gregg I always thought of ACT as a great dialectical reaction against the infantilization memeplex dominating contemporary culture. A refreshing Nietzschean-Phallic response to the sentimental overemotionality in previous psychotherapy trends. Which means I'm even more grateful for you also pointing out its shortcomings. How has ACT been doing clinically?` Has it proven easy to teach and then apply? Or is the opposite the case? Best intentions Alexander Den tis 23 apr. 2019 kl 19:03 skrev Henriques, Gregg - henriqgx <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>: Peter, Thanks for this note. I agree with you that ACT is a sophisticated form of therapy. I appreciate its use of metaphor, its focus on mindful awareness and acceptance and emphasis on engagement and values based living. As I noted, it overlaps much with my CALM MO approach and I use many of its techniques and principles in my work. My primary critiques of it include the following: Because it is philosophically and conceptually grounded in Steve Hayes’ post-Skinnerian relational frame theory, it has a limited (and in many ways, unnecessarily complicated) theoretical structure. It is unnecessarily defined against traditional Beck/Ellis cognitive therapy (i.e., sometimes it makes sense to observe and move through thoughts like ACT recommends and other times to engage and work to re-author them). The UTUA metatheoretical viewpoint makes clear why Hayes’ view is limited and defined against traditional cognitive therapy. It is weak in its attention to relationship process variables. It does not include much in terms of attachment theory; Influence Matrix variable analysis; False/Defensive Self v. True/Authentic self frames. It is not strong on the relationship between self-consious and subconscious processes, nor psychodynamic defenses (except for suppression/repression which ACT couches as experiential avoidance). It overshoots in its framing of all justification variables (i.e., attributions, describing, narrating, telling the story of one’s life) as being essentially rationalizations—and it privileges actions as a function of its Skinnerian lineage. It is weak in its broader philosophical analysis (e.g., big picture views of science, meaning of life and foundational values, socio-political theory, etc). Best, G From: tree of knowledge system discussion <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> On Behalf Of Peter Limberg Sent: Tuesday, April 23, 2019 8:27 AM To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: ACT CALMly I discovered ACT a few years ago and at the time I thought it was one of the better psychotherapeutic modalities out there. I like the idea of Dirty Pain v Clean Pain ... the latter is running away from the reality of the pain. On Tue, Apr 23, 2019 at 8:11 AM Henriques, Gregg - henriqgx <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote: Hi List, Below is a link to an essay on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy that folks might find to be of value: https://aeon.co/essays/how-to-live-a-values-driven-life-in-the-face-of-dark-emotions<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__aeon.co_essays_how-2Dto-2Dlive-2Da-2Dvalues-2Ddriven-2Dlife-2Din-2Dthe-2Dface-2Dof-2Ddark-2Demotions&d=DwMFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=PyRQoKYAcGA049y4d9HHH0F2BoUYnYccB25NhBu8Mqo&s=9bXpYLkGtBWfRDlVoS2x36SA_wz6kI-1tPL0kIMhg-I&e=> ACT (said as the word) is one of the major “third wave” forms of cognitive and behavior therapies. It emphasizes mindful awareness of one’s emotions and how to remain committed toward one’s goals and valued states of being. CALM MO, the integrated approach to psychological mindfulness that is the 8th branch of the UTUA framework overlaps significantly with the basic ACT principles. On another note, the TOK miniconference was a success and many interesting ideas were exchanged. I will be sharing some updates soon. Best, Gregg ___________________________________________ Gregg Henriques, Ph.D. Professor Department of Graduate Psychology 216 Johnston Hall MSC 7401 James Madison University Harrisonburg, VA 22807 (540) 568-7857 (phone) (540) 568-4747 (fax) Be that which enhances dignity and well-being with integrity. 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