Urological Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndromes
Andrea Kohn Maikovich-Fong in Handbook of Psychosocial Interventions for Chronic Pain, 2019
Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is a psychological intervention that employs mindfulness and acceptance techniques. Mindfulness refers to purposeful observation of what is going on in oneself and the environment. Mindfulness techniques help patients redirect their attention away from streams of often unhelpful thought (i.e., catastrophizing thoughts) and toward the present moment (Harris, 2006; Kabat-Zinn, 1991). Mindful thinking interventions train the patient to examine his/her present experiences with a receptive and nonjudgmental mindset—that is, without automatically evaluating private experiences as good or bad, but simply experiencing them as they are. The aim is to reduce the impact and influence of unwanted thoughts, feelings, and sensations. Patients often are instructed in the use of guided home practice of mindful breathing and mindful eating, two basic techniques for inducing a calm mind.
Through pain
Stephen Buetow in Rethinking Pain in Person-Centred Health Care, 2020
To adapt to pain, persons may need to set and prosecute clear, task-related goals around what they value. This scenario fits the psychological flexibility model37 that underpins the use of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to help persons accept their thoughts and feelings, choose a valued direction and take action.38 Among adults with persistent pain, this therapy is clinically effective in realizing meaningful aspects of their potential.39–41 It motivates persons to move through pain lying in the same direction as what they really want, either for its intrinsic value or for its instrumental ability to meet other needs.42 The pain spurs them on to apply a positive mindset to do what is required (silver lining theory).43
Epilogue
Stijn Geerinck in Reconstructing Identity After Brain Injury, 2022
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) may be useful in this respect to identify, understand and change thoughts and behaviour caused by stress and negative feelings. Expectations, demands and ideas are altered and new adaptive thinking styles and coping skills are developed, tested and applied. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), in turn, focusses on the acceptance of the new situation and the choice for behaviour consistent with personal goals and values. This way, people can once again have the feeling of living a meaningful life with their impairments. Narrative therapy highlights the stories of people with ABI and the way they cope with it in their lives. New positive narratives with a focus on strengths are written, centralising the person rather than the impairment, so that people can come to terms with their injury and reconnect with their values in life. By externalising (‘you are more than your brain injury’), one gradually gets in touch with oneself again.
A single-case experimental evaluation of a new group-based intervention to enhance adjustment to life with acquired brain injury: VaLiANT (valued living after neurological trauma)
Published in Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 2022
Nick Sathananthan, Bleydy Dimech-Betancourt, Eric Morris, Don Vicendese, Lucy Knox, David Gillanders, Roshan Das Nair, Dana Wong
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a psychological therapy designed specifically to enhance valued living. It aims to increase engagement in meaningful life activities by helping individuals identify what is important to them (i.e., their values), and by improving acceptance and psychological flexibility towards negative thoughts and emotions that may otherwise prevent valued living (Hayes et al., 2006). ACT has established efficacy in psychiatric and chronic health conditions (Dindo et al., 2017; Gloster et al., 2020). There is preliminary randomized controlled trial (RCT)-level evidence supporting its use to improve mood, anxiety, and psychological distress in TBI (Sander et al., 2021; Whiting et al., 2020, 2018), and lower level evidence in stroke (Graham et al., 2015; Large et al., 2020; Majumdar & Morris, 2019) and other neurological conditions (Gillanders & Gillanders, 2014; Hill et al., 2017). However, these studies have not directly addressed cognitive impairment; and there is no clear evidence for ACT improving psychological and behavioural aspects of adjustment following ABI.
A Preliminary Investigation into the Factor Structure of Two Psychological Flexibility Measures in a Sample of Community-Dwelling Older Adults
Published in Clinical Gerontologist, 2023
Jenna L. Adamowicz, Emily B. K. Thomas, Ti Hsu, Natalie L. Denburg, Anne I. Roche
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a transdiagnostic psychotherapy which facilitates behavioral change by increasing psychological flexibility (Hayes, Strosahl, & Wilson, 2011). Psychological flexibility, or the ability to engage in values-based actions with present moment awareness, despite the presence of internal struggles (e.g., thoughts or physical sensations) (Hayes, Luoma, Bond, Masuda, & Lillis, 2006), is comprised of three core processes that have been identified as key tenets to guide case conceptualization and promote overall psychological flexibility: openness, awareness, and engagement (Strosahl, Robinson, & Gustavsson, 2012). Openness is willingness to experience one’s emotions, thoughts, physical sensations, memories, and urges (even when unpleasant), in the pursuit of personal values. Awareness is mindful attention to one’s experiences, behaviors, and functions of behavior. Engagement is connection with and the pursuit of personal values through consistent and flexible behaviors over time.
Measuring psychological inflexibility in adult and child hearing loss
Published in International Journal of Audiology, 2019
Clarissa W. Ong, John J. Whicker, Karen Muñoz, Michael P. Twohig
A key psychological variable that may be relevant to audiological settings is psychological flexibility. Psychological flexibility describes a pattern of effective responding to difficult internal experiences wherein the individual practices openness and nonjudgment of these experiences in the present moment so as to successfully pursue personally meaningful activities (Hayes et al. 2006). Psychological flexibility is a fundamental aspect of overall wellbeing (Kashdan and Rottenberg 2010) and impoverished psychological flexibility or psychological inflexibility has been consistently linked with maladaptive outcomes (more psychopathology, poorer job performance; Hayes et al. 2006). Psychological inflexibility describes rigid responding to private experiences in a way that disconnects the individual from the here-and-now and valued living (Hayes et al. 2006). Thus, psychological inflexibility may be thought of as the inverse of psychological flexibility. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is a psychological intervention that primarily aims to increase psychological flexibility by teaching acceptance and mindfulness-based strategies (Hayes et al. 2006). It has been used to treat psychological and physical conditions including depression and anxiety (Twohig and Levin 2017), as well as more chronic conditions such as chronic pain (Veehof et al. 2016), tinnitus (Westin et al. 2011) and stuttering (Beilby, Byrnes, and Yaruss 2012).
Related Knowledge Centers
- Brief Psychotherapy
- Mindfulness
- Psychotherapy
- Clinical Behavior Analysis
- Psychology
- Intervention
- Acceptance
- Flexibility
- Functional Contextualism
- Relational Frame Theory