In Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) metaphors and experiential exercises are used to help clients get distance from their thoughts and make room for emotions. This presentation is part of a graduate course taught at NYU.
Man in Hole pp. 101-104 of manual – Dig
ACT?
Not really final goal, but early goal– but here’s something that looks a bit different
Creative Hopelessness
Explain it
Control Agenda vs. Acceptance Agenda
Role Play to Demonstrate
Chessboard Metaphor
Open Discussion
General Reactions? Questions?
Comfortable doing that with a client?;
Think they’ll come back?
Wouldn’t MI be just as good?
Or a little explanation of the efficacy research?
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Pain vs. Suffering
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“The Person”
may go anywhere he/she chooses
Cannot communicate with “The Mind”
If the person tries to communicate with “The Mind”, the mind should interfere - Person should be stopped from Minding the Mind - Mind says “Never mind your mind!”
The Person should listen to the Mind without minding back and go wherever the Person chooses to go
After at least 5 Minutes (The Mind will monitor this), switch roles
Then after everyone has gone, we each split up and go for a walk alone silently, NOTICING that each of us is still taking a mind for a walk, it is just the FAMILIAR mind in our heads
Follow the same rules as before during this time
Dispassionately let the Mind describe, analyze, encourage, evaluate, compare, predict, summarize, warn, cajole, point out, and so on
The Mind(s) must follow & must communicate nearly constantly about anything and everyghing
Descriptions
Analysis
Encourgement
Evaluations
Comparisons
Predictions
Summarizations
Warnings
Cajolings
Criticisms
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Life Stories as reasons = Elaborate descriptions of life history seen as PROOF or REASONS for current events and as evidence that person is “Broken.”
Have them write their Life Story (from WorkBook)
Have them rewrite it
Moving from deliterlaizing a single word (Milk, Bad) to deliterlizing an entire Life Story
Functional Utility rather than literal truth. These questions may help
And what is that story in the service of?”
And does that description of your past help you move ahead?
Is this helpful, or is this what your mind does to you?
Are you proposeing a solution, or is thi sjust your way of “digging”?
Have you said these kinds of things to yourself or to others before Is this old?
If you’ve said this before, what do you think will be different now if you say them again?
If God told you that your explanation is 100% correct, how would this help you? ***********
OK, let’s all have a vote and vote that you are correct. Now what?
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But literally means that what comes after the But literally contradicts what went before the word