Since the original publication of this seminal work, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) has come into its own as a widely practiced approach to helping people change. This book provides the definitive statement of ACT--from conceptual and empirical foundations to clinical techniques--written by its originators. ACT is based on the idea that psychological rigidity is a root cause of a wide range of clinical problems. The authors describe effective, innovative ways to cultivate psychological flexibility by detecting and targeting six key processes: defusion, acceptance, attention to the present moment, self-awareness, values, and committed action. Sample therapeutic exercises and patient-therapist dialogues are integrated throughout.

New to This Edition
*Reflects tremendous advances in ACT clinical applications, theory building, and research.
*Psychological flexibility is now the central organizing focus.
*Expanded coverage of mindfulness, the therapeutic relationship, relational learning, and case formulation.
*Restructured to be more clinician friendly and accessible; focuses on the moment-by-moment process of therapy.

See also Experiencing ACT from the Inside Out: A Self-Practice/Self-Reflection Workbook for Therapists, by Dennis Tirch, Laura R. Silberstein-Tirch, R. Trent Codd III, Martin J. Brock, and M. Joann Wright.

Steven C. Hayes, PhD, is Nevada Foundation Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Nevada. His career has focused on the analysis of the nature of human language and cognition and its application to the understanding and alleviation of human suffering. Kirk D. Strosahl, PhD, is a primary care psychologist at Central Washington Family Medicine, in Yakima, Washington, where he is promoting the use of ACT in general medical practice with predominantly low-income underinsured or uninsured clients. Kelly G. Wilson, PhD, is Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Mississippi, where he is also Director of the Center for Contextual Psychology and the ACT Treatment Development Group.

I. Foundations and the Model1. The Dilemma of Human Suffering2. The Foundations of ACT: Taking a Functional Contextual Approach3. Psychological Flexibility as a Unified Model of Human FunctioningII. Functional Analysis and Approach to Intervention4. Case Formulation: Listening with ACT Ears, Seeing with ACT Eyes, with Emily K. Sandoz5. The Therapeutic Relationship in ACT6. Creating a Context for Change: Mind versus ExperienceIII. Core Clinical Processes 7. Present-Moment Awareness, with Emily K. Sandoz8. Dimensions of Self9. Defusion10. Acceptance11. Connecting with Values12. Committed ActionIV. Building a Progressive Scientific Approach13. Contextual Behavioral Science and the Future of ACT