ACT
This is what ACT stands for.
What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy?
True or False: We can avoid suffering and painful experiences if we try hard enough.
What is false?
True or false: Values are different than goals.
What is true? (Goals typically have an end point, whereas values are things that people continue to pursue because they add meaning to life.)
True or false: Accepting thoughts means that you like the thoughts and would like to think about them more often.
What is false? (Acceptance is about making room for thoughts, not about liking or enjoying them.)
True or false: The goal of ACT is to create a more meaningful life while suppressing and ignoring the inevitable pain that comes with living.
True or False: Trying to control thoughts and feelings typically leads to short-term and long-term relief.
What is false? (Although this strategy may lead to short-term relief, the things we resist persist.)
True or false: If you try hard enough not to think about a pink elephant (or an unpleasant thought), you will be able to without any difficulties.
What is false? (Even if you are able to suppress thoughts, feelings, or memories, there is typically a "rebound effect" that causes each to come back bigger or worse later.)
This is the term for taking steps towards things that align with your values.
What is committed action?
This is the ACT term for what DBT would refer to as "mindfulness."
What is present moment awareness?
Openly seeking out something that is scary but worthwhile (i.e., thanking your mind and then doing the difficult thing with gusto) to gain some distance from that thought/experience/feeling is an example of this ACT concept.
What is defusion?
True or False: ACT and ERP are empirically-supported treatments (ESTs; i.e., Research says that they work well) for OCD.
What is true?
This is the term for becoming stuck on thoughts so that it is easy to believe them and feel like they represent reality (even if they don't).
What is cognitive fusion?
Choice point (i.e., moving towards or away from...) is an example of an intervention that aligns with this ACT concept (one of the six concepts in the ACT hexaflex).
What is aligning with values?
This is the opposite of experiential avoidance.
What is acceptance?
Imagining leaves on a stream can be used to defuse from thoughts; this strategy is also a helpful way to practice this ACT concept that is similar to DBT mindfulness.
What is present moment awareness?
One goal of ACT is to increase acceptance of inevitable pain that comes with living while decreasing this related word (Hint: It is what results from not accepting unpleasant thoughts, feelings, sensations, urges, etc.).
What is suffering?
Define defusion.
What is stepping back from thoughts, memories, and physical sensations to gain some distance from them and to "hold" each more loosely?
This is a reason for engaging with and living in accordance with values.
What is to have a richer, more meaningful, and more fulfilling life?
This is the term for the active embracing of subjective experiences, particularly distressing experiences. (The idea is not merely to grudgingly tolerate negative experiences but to embrace them fully and without defense.)
What is acceptance?
The chessboard metaphor (i.e., instead of trying to have "positive" and "negative" pieces compete against each other, try to just notice pleasant and unpleasant experiences by "being the board") illustrates which ACT concept?
What is self-as-context?
Name five of the six core constructs that make up the ACT hexaflex. (Hint: Self-as-context and defusion are two of them.)
What are acceptance, defusion, present moment awareness, values, committed action, and self-as-context?
Name two techniques you can use to defuse from your thoughts.
What are singing it, saying the thought in a silly voice, say "I'm having the thought that...", leaves on a stream, naming the story, thanking your mind, etc.?
Give some examples of values.
What are kindness, playfulness, education (being a lifelong learner), honesty, independence, creativity, adventurousness, openness, acceptance, helpfulness, flexibility, etc.?
Name a technique one can use to engage with the present moment (i.e., become more mindful of thoughts, feelings, sensations, etc.).
What are dropping anchor, 5x7 breathing, 4x4 breathing, mindfully eating a food (e.g., raisin or M&M), noticing your body (e.g., feet on the floor, your weight being supported in a chair), the 5-4-3-2-1 technique (i.e., five things you can see, four things you can touch, etc.)?
Imagining hearing the eulogy at your funeral, being able to wave a "magic wand" and then imagining what you would do with your life, thinking about your dreams from childhood, and imagining how your life would change if you won the lottery are all examples of ways to clarify these (i.e., this ACT concept).
What are values?