This is a helpful and extremely accessible list of 18 scientific reasons to practce loving-kindness meditation. People can so easily dismiss such practices as “wooly” or pseudo-scientific psycho-babble. Yet, the fact is that TONS of research has gone into the effects of loving-kindness meditation. Loving-kindness meditation focuses on developing feelings…
JoAnne Dahl and Tobias Lundgren discuss the use of ACT for the treatment of chronic pain. They start off with a fascinating observation: A radical and provocative conclusion drawn by the authors of a Swedish government evaluation (van Tulder, et al., 2000) of all established medical treatments offered today was…
A friend of mine recently gave-up smoking and is currently going on two weeks without a puff. He has received advice to employ some distraction techniques to help him deal with the ‘cravings’. I have two issues with this. Firstly, after two weeks, it is not strictly speaking cravings that…
Just came across a paper from Steven C. Hayes, Jacqueline Pistorello and Michael E. Levin on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy as a Unified Model of Behavior Change. Here’s the abstract: The present article summarizes the assumptions, model, techniques, evidence, and diversity/social justice commitments of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). ACT…
Never let it be said that we are biased! Of course, ACT is not perfect. Neither is it without its detractors. This research article in The International Journal of Behavioral Consultation and Therapy (2011, Vol. 7, No. 1, 55–67) evaluates a recent critique of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Written by…
Here is a useful analysis, comparing ACT and Behavioral Activation as a treatment for Depression: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Behavioral Activation for the Treatment of Depression: Description and Comparison Abstract The field of clinical behavior analysis is growing rapidly and has the potential to affect and transform mainstream cognitive…