THANK-YOU TO THE AUTHORS

This book is an important contribution to therapists who want to increase effectiveness in their work with suffering beings while also learning to incorporate Eastern psychological teachings in their practice. I found it easy to read, practical, enjoyable.

Rating:


Challenging new approach, worth reading

Startling new way to treat anxiety disorders from a humanistic view aimed at creating a meaningful life despite high anxiety. The book is written very clearly and contains techniques such as metaphors and stories that are excellent and can be used with more traditional therapy.

To use ACT alone in therapy to treat anxiety disorders by just reading the clear instructions of the book and using the CD that comes with it may be dangerous. It is a counter intuitive approach that must be consistantly maintained; the therapist must be 100% present at all times. It is not just a technique that can be applied; the therapist must model this approach in real life or he/she could cause more harm than good. I would love to attend in person some training in this approach and have some live supervision (as is required for EMDR therapy). Definitly worth reading and staying in touch with any new research in this approach.

Rating:


The first effective unified protocol for anxiety disorders

Eifert and Forsyth come up with the first unified treatment for all anxiety disorders that actually works--an accomplishment that deserves a place in the history of psychotherapy. They do a superb job at making their protocol accessible to therapists that are new to acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), including students. In the first chapters of the book, the authors explain with both rigor and clarity what ACT is all about, and contrast it with CBT. In a nutshell, while CBT focuses on symptom management and reduction, ACT focuses on symptom acceptance and doing, in spite of all the inner stuff that may show up, for purposes of living a chosen, valued life. ACT claims convincingly that the road to a good life and mental health is not trying to feel good, but to become able to do what is required (i.e., act) to live a meaningful life, guided by a person's valued directions. ACT is a new, powerful therapy, already with remarkable empirical support, that combines the best of what the psychotherapy world has to offer, that is, acceptance- and mindfulness-based, as well as experiential and existential-humanistic therapies with behavioral interventions, in particular exposure. Maybe exposure work, perhaps the main contribution of the behavioral traidition to psychotherapy, best illustrates the contrats between ACT and CBT: while in CBT exposure is undertaken with the purpose of reducing symptomatology, in ACT it is undertaken with the purpose of increasing behavioral flexibility, i.e., expanding the behavioral repertoire of the person in the presence of anxiety provoking stimuli, and ultimately actualize willingness to move in the direction of the person's values. A truly extraordinary book, and a must read for any therapist who hopes to remain in the cutting edge of his profession. Finally, the editors at New Harbinger Publications deserve praise for the vision and creativity they have put into publishing ACT literature during the last few years. The book by Eifert and Forsyth is a remarkable outcome of such efforts.

Rating: