Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Contemporary Theory, Research and Practice

Edited by J.T. Blackledge, Joseph Ciarrochi, and Frank Deane

J.T. Blackledge, Joseph Ciarrochi, and Frank Deane

Morehead State University, USA and University of Wollongong, Australia



Showcasing the very latest in the theory, research and practice of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) across a range of clinical applications, including eating disorders, depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, PTSD and substance abuse, with contributions from leading ACT practitioners including co-founders Kirk Strosahl, Kelly Wilson and Rob Zettle. Chapters range from detailed treatments of the scientific and theoretical aspects of the ACT model and research program, to detailed discussions of how to apply ACT to a variety of human problems. Divided into two parts, the first section features theoretical treatments of ACT, with the second (and larger) section presenting extended descriptions of how to apply ACT in different contexts. This rich content mix reflects the strengths of the contextual behavioral science (CBS) research program espoused by Michael Levin and Steven Hayes from the University of Nevada. In the end, ACT is an applied treatment model, and as such, it lives and dies by its ability to effectively benefit a wide variety of clients. In order to make the treatment increasingly effective and to maximize understanding about precisely how the treatment works, its tenets must be theoretically coherent, firmly based on empirically tried and true principles, and must have its active psychological processes clearly identified and sufficiently assessed. This book clearly demonstrates such a mix of full application, an appreciation of basic-applied research linkage, clear and behaviorally-consistent conceptualization of specific problem areas, and coherent explication of the ACT model. This book will not only tell you what to do with clients struggling with various problems, it will also tell you how those things work.




About the Editors

J.T. Blackledge, Joseph Ciarrochi, and Frank Deane

Table of Contents

  • Table of contents
  • Preface
  • Section 1. The ACT framework
  • Chapter 1. ACT, RFT, and Contextual Behavioral Science
  • Levin and Hayes
  • Chapter 2. Core Processes in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
  • Blackledge and Barnes-Holmes
  • Chapter 3. Teaching ACT: To Whom, Why, and How Teaching ACT
  • Strosahl and Robinson
  • Section 2. Applying ACT
  • Chapter 4. Understanding and Treating Eating Disorders: An ACT Perspective
  • Merwin and Wilson
  • Chapter 5. ACT & Health Conditions
  • Dahl
  • Chapter 6. ACT with Depression: The Role of Forgiving
  • Zettle, Barner, & Gird
  • Chapter 7. Brief Group ACT for Anxiety
  • Glaser, Blackledge, Shepherd, & Deane
  • Chapter 8. Self-destructive behaviour, ACT and functional analysis
  • Lundgren
  • Chapter 9. Acceptance and Commitment Training for Work Stress and Burnout in Mental Health Direct Care Providers
  • Bethay, Wilson, and Moyer
  • Chapter 10. Promoting social intelligence using the experiential role-play method
  • Bilich and Ciarrochi
  • Chapter 11. ACT with schizophrenia
  • McLeod
  • Chapter 12. Beyond the Fragmented Self: Integrating Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), and Psychodynamic Approaches in the treatment of borderline personality
  • Bailey, Mooney-Reh, Parker, Temelkovski
  • Chapter 13. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Comorbid PTSD and Substance Use Disorders
  • Batten, DeViva, Santanello, Morris, Benson, and Mann