Josue Guadarrama, MA Presentation at 2016 Science of HOPE Description Developed within a coherent theoretical and philosophical framework, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a unique, empirically based psychological intervention that uses acceptance and mindfulness strategies, together with value driven commitment and behavior change strategies, to increase psychological flexibility. ACT uses three broad categories of techniques: mindfulness, including being present in the moment and defusion techniques; acceptance; and commitment to values-based living. Participants in this seminar will learn mindfulness as a way of observing ones experience, in the present moment, without judgment and “defuse,” or distancing oneself from unhelpful thoughts, reactions and sensations. Aside from a didactic approach, there will be video examples, and skill practice. Audience participation is highly encouraged.

1. Acceptance
Commitment
Therapy
ACT
Josue Guadarrama
Washington State University
josue.guadarrama@wsu.edu

2. Reflection
– Think about the last time something incredibly painful,
hurtful, or stressful happened in your life.
– What kind of responses did you get that made you feel
truly cared for, supported, accepted, and understood?

3. Typical Type of Responses
– Quoting proverbs at you: “Plenty more fish in the sea,” “Time heals all
wounds,” “Every cloud has a silver lining”
– Telling you to “think positively”
– Asking about your situation but then quickly changing the subject
– Giving advice: “What you should do is this,” “Have you thought about
doing such and such?”
– Trumping your pain: “Oh yes, I’ve been through this many a time myself.
Here’s what worked for me.”
– Telling you to get over it: “Build a bridge,” “Move on,” “Let it go,” “Isn’t it
time you got over this?”

4. Typical Type of Responses
– Discounting your feelings: “No use crying over spilt milk,” “It’s not
that bad,” “Cheer up!” “Stiff upper lip”
– Telling you your thoughts are irrational or that you do too much
negative thinking
– Trivializing or diminishing your pain: “Put it into perspective—
there are kids starving in Africa.”
– Trying to distract you from your pain: “Let’s get drunk!” “Let’s go
out and have some fun,” “Let’s eat some chocolate,” or “Let’s
watch a movie.”

5. Typical Type of Responses
– Not coming to visit or spend time with you or even actively
avoiding you.
– Playing “Mr. Fix-it”: Coming up with all sorts of helpful solutions
for your problem.
– Saying they want to help but not following up
– Listening impatiently .
– Putting up with or tolerating your distress but not truly accepting
it.

6. Typical Type of Responses
– Reassuring you: “It’ll be all right, you’ll see,” “It’s not as bad as you
think,” “You’ll get through this.”
(Note: Many people see reassurance as a compassionate act—and
it can be at times—but the problem is that it easily puts the
reassurer in a one-up position, like a parent reassuring a young
child.)
– How is it to get these responses?

7. Our Reactions
– Feel hurt Irritated Rejected
– Invalidated Unappreciated Misunderstood
– Offended ???????
– Timing
– Preceded by Caring & Empathy
– When we are hurting, all us want to feel understood, accepted,
and cared for before we are ready to start looking for solutions or
strategies

8. Understood, Accepted, & Cared
– Giving you a hug, embrace, or a cuddle
– Holding your hand
– Placing an arm around you
– Validating your pain: “This must be so hard for you” or “I can’t begin to
imagine what you’re going through” or “I can see you’re in terrible
pain.”
– Saying nothing, just sitting with you and allowing you to be
– Holding you while you cry or even crying with you
– Offering support: “Is there anything I can do to help?”

9. Understood, Accepted, & Cared
– Asking how you feel
– Sharing their own reactions: “I’m so sorry,” “I’m so angry,” “I feel so
helpless; I wish there was something I could do,” or even “I don’t know
what to say”
– Creating space for your pain: “Do you want to talk about it?” “It’s okay to
cry,” or “We don’t have to talk; I’m happy just to sit here with you”
– Giving support unconditionally, such as making dinner for you, or taking
care of your kids, or helping you out with your daily tasks
– Making the effort to visit and spend some time with you in person

10. Understood, Accepted, & Cared
– Genuinely listening as you tell them about what you’re going
through
– Saying something like “I’m here for you” and meaning it
– These sorts of responses all send the same message: I’m here for
you, I care about you, I accept you, I understand you, I see you’re
in pain, and I want to help.

11. Who is the Person in Your Life:
– Who can always be there for you, in any moment, no
matter what happens?
– Who can understand, validate, and empathize with your
pain better than anyone else on the planet?
– Who can truly know just how much you are suffering?

12. YOU ARE

13. TWO ELEMENTS
– 1. BUILDING SELF-COMPASSION!!
Building a good relationship with ourselves is essential
for inner fulfillment, especially when we run into a
challenging problem or situation.
– 2. BEING PRESENT

14. Acceptance Commitment Therapy
(ACT)
– 1. Connecting with the Present Moment (Be Here Now)
– 2. Cognitive Defusion (Watch Your Thinking)
– 3. Acceptance (Open Up)
– 4. Self-as-Context (Pure Awareness or the Thinking-Self)
– 5. Values (Know What Matters)
– 6. Committed Action (Do What It Takes)

15. 1. Connecting w/the Present
Moment (Be Here Now)
– Present means: consciously connecting with and engaging in whatever is
happening in this moment. Here-and-now experience.
– Humans find it very hard to stay present, absorbed in the past or the future*
– It is easy to get caught up in our thoughts and lose touch with the world around
us.
– Most of the time we tend to operate on automatic pilot, merely “going through
the motions.”
– Awareness to either the physical world around us or the psychological world
within us, or to both simultaneously.

16. Why be Present? (Be Here Now)
3 Main Reasons
– To truly appreciate the richness and fullness of life, you
have to be here while it’s happening!*
– The power to act exists only in this moment
– To act effectively
Happening, Reacting, & how we wish to respond

17. Being Present Involves
Connecting
– Paying full attention, with openness & curiosity
– Connection is essential for effective action.
– The more we get entangled in our thoughts, the
less attention we pay.

18. Getting Disconnected from the
Present
– The more we focus on unpleasant thoughts and feelings, the more
we disconnect from the present moment.
– The Not Good Enough Story (NGE)
– The Past
– Replay old hurts and disappointments,
– We relive old losses and grievances,
– We reignite old resentments and ancient grudges, and
– We stew over painful events that can never be undone.

19. The Not Good Enough Story
(NGE)
– The Future
– We see all sorts of scary scenarios, things that might and could go
horribly wrong.
– We get bogged down in fears, worries, and anxieties:
– Fear of failure, fear of rejection,
– Fear of getting old or sick, fear of screwing up the kids,
– Fear of loneliness or poverty or injury, or
– Fear of the uncertain and the unknown.

20. ACT Exercise
1. Connecting w/the Present Moment
(Be Here Now)

21. 2. Cognitive Defusion
(Watch Your Thinking)
– Defusion means learning to “step back” and separate or detach
from our thoughts, images, and memories.
– We watch our thinking instead of getting tangled up in it.
– We see our thoughts for what they are—nothing more or less than
words or pictures.
– What is Fusion?
– A thought & the thing it refers to—the story and the event—
become stuck together, as one.

22. What is Fusion?
– We become fused with our thoughts.
– Thoughts may seem to be the absolute truth, or
– Commands we must obey, or
– Threats we must eliminate, or
– Something we have to give all our attention to

23. What is Fusion?
– When we defuse from our thoughts, they lose all their power over
us.
– Negative stories are not seen as a problem or the enemy in their
own right.*
– The aim is to increase our self-awareness & acting.
– Whether a thought is true is not that important.
– Suppose you are making some serious mistakes in your work

24. Thought Discernment
– Does it help me to be the person I want to be?
– Does it help me to build the sort of relationships I’d like?
– Does it help me to connect with what I truly value?
– Does it help me, in the long term, to create a rich, full, and
meaningful life?

25. Cognitive Defusion
– Control Strategy Vs. Acceptance Strategy
– Acceptance: uncomfortable thoughts and feelings*
– Stop the struggle & refocus on something useful
– Defusion means we separate from our thoughts
– Thoughts may or may not be true
– Step back from our thoughts & disentangle ourselves from them*
– If our thoughts are helpful then we make good use of them

26. Cognitive Defusion Paradox
– The aim of defusion is not to get rid of unpleasant thoughts,
but rather to see them for what they are—just words—and to
let go of struggling with them
– Helpful We Use; Unhelpful We Defuse

27. ACT Exercise
2. Cognitive Defusion (Watch Your Thinking)

28. Cognitive Defusion
Name & Label Your Thoughts
– For example, we could silently say to ourselves, “Thinking”
– Naming the process of thinking helps us to separate a little from
all those words—to step back and get a little distance
– The & Story
– Create a distance by producing a title that begins with the word
“The” and ends with the word “Story,” for example,
– “The ‘My Life Is Over’ Story” or
– “The ‘Old and Lonely’ Story.”

29. 2. Cognitive Defusion (Watch Your Thinking)
More Practice

30. 3. Acceptance (Open Up)
– Acceptance means opening up and making room for painful
feelings, sensations, urges, and emotions.
– We drop the struggle with them, give them some breathing
space, and allow them to be as they are.
– This doesn’t mean liking, wanting, or holding them
– Fighting or avoiding our feelings does not create room for
them; expansion does.

31. 3. Acceptance (Open Up)
Observing-Self
– In practicing expansion connect with
our emotions through the observing
self.
– This enables us to experience our
emotions directly, to see them as
they actually are, rather than as the
thinking-self claims they are.
– View negative emotions for what
they are: relatively small and
harmless (even if they’re ugly)
Thinking-Self
– Views negative emotions as giants,
and dangerous demons that must
avoided

32. 3. Acceptance (Open Up)
When We Take a Look We Learn that:
– it is not as big as it seems—that we can make room for it.
– it cannot harm us, even though it feels unpleasant.
– it cannot control our arms and legs, even though it may make
us shiver and shake.
– there is no need to run and hide from it, nor to fight and
struggle with it.

33. ACT Exercise
3. Acceptance (Open Up)

34. The story Line
Defusion
– A bunch of words & pictures inside
our head:
– beliefs, ideas,
– assumptions, reasons,
– judgments, impressions,
– images, memories,
– & interpretations,
What Our Body Senses
Expansion
– All the different feelings and
sensations inside our body.
– We observe the negative feelings
and sensations and make room for
them.
5. Self-as-Context
Two major components

35. 5. Self-as-Context
Qualities of the Observing-Self
– Can’t be judged as good or bad, right or wrong, because all it
does is observe.
– Sees things as they are, without judging, criticizing, or doing
any of the other thinking processes that set us up for a
struggle with reality.
– Therefore, it gives acceptance in its truest, purest form.

36. ACT Exercise
4. Self-as-Context

37. 5. Values
(Know What Matters)
– Deep in your heart, what do you want your life to be about?
– What do you want to stand for as you use your time on this planet?
– What do you want to do with your brief time on this planet?
– What truly matters to you in the big picture?
– What sort of personal qualities do you want to cultivate?
– How do you want to behave toward yourself, others, and the world
around you?
– What personal qualities do you want to cultivate?

38. 5. Values
(Know What Matters)
– Purpose gives our life direction, and presence allows us to make
the most of our journey.
– Values are about how you want to behave
– Values describe how we want to behave on an ongoing basis.
– Are your “chosen life directions.”
– Values are like a compass because they give us direction and guide
our ongoing journey.
– Help us find vitality through meaningful action despite all the pain.

39. 6. Committed Action
(Do What It Takes)
– Taking effective action, guided by our values.
– Committed action means “doing what it takes” to live by our
values even if that brings up pain and discomfort.

40. ACT Exercise
Self-Compassion

41. Thank You
Josue Guadarrama
Go Cougs