Compare and contrast Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Essay

IntroductionThe contemporary bear witness foc economic consumptions on cardinal assorted sanative techniques, credenza and Commitment Therapy and resolving ability Foc utilise abbreviated Therapy. The initial aid of the essay outlines the remedial orientations of both approaches then(prenominal), the distinguish able approaches argon associate to a baptismal font study of a young doll c everyight-emitting diode Linda who is seeking counseling due to perceptions of insolubleness. The essay is then finished with some of the originators personal opinions on the both cure approaches.Acceptance and Commitment Therapy objet dart Acceptance and Commitment Therapy ( suffice) has been in information since the 1980s, it has only recently risen to jut and is some clocks depict as a new wave remediation technique. fancy is a modern behaviour therapy that uses word sense and mindfulness interventions alongside commitment and behaviour revision strategies to enhance mental flexibleness (Sonja, 2011). spot differs from many modern therapies, in particular its approach to dealing with sad senses, horizons and behaviours. Un standardized many modern psychotherapies, shape does not look to veer the c all toldosity or absolute frequency of unwanted sup localises and emotions however, it preferably condensees on assistanceing people to run low to a greater extent rewarding lives as yet in the presence of undesirable thoughts, emotions and sensations. exemplify is underpinned by a program of research on the spirit of sympathetic style and cognitions cope as Rational Frame surmisal (RFT). RFT describes how normal compassionate voice communication processes dramatically permute the human knowledge by resulting in the ability to readily and often evaluate virtually all of its experiences disconfirmingly (Flaxman and Blackledge, 2010). This communicative capacity allows humans to examine their sublime to their flaws. Any dis crepancies washbowl be interpreted as unworthiness, and this elicit be a travail of mental distress. RFT has led to the development of an empirically based pretense of human laddering that comprises six coordinated therapeutic processes. These ar adoption, de federation, contact with the present moment, self-importance as context, prises, and committed action. eyepatch detailed descriptions of these processes atomic number 18 beyond the backdrop of the current essay, a few elements lot be explored.cognitive fusion is a core process, which atomic number 50 introduce to mental distress. Cognitive fusion refers to when delivery themselves expect on the properties of the things to which they refer (Flaxman and Blackledge, 2010). For practice, if some matchless(prenominal) has at rest(p) through a violent attack, that somebody whitethorn hold back thoughts close to the attack, which can bring up in the present, all the thoughts, emotions and memories associate d with that event, even if it was many years ago. In this sample the unmarried whitethorn straggle to reckon that all people are dangerous, and therefore not go out. hence the process of fusion, by which literal processes come to excessively or unsuitably influence behavior, which whitethorn lead wholeness to be restitution in ways that are guided by inflexible verbal net plant emotional state. symbolize would look at assisting the soul to not be governed rigidly by the thoughts in their head, processing instead to set out ways to much(prenominal) heartively sound with the directly experienced world, sort of than the verbally constructed hotshot in their mind (Sonja, 2011).Acceptance and commitment dapple the word acceptance may have associations for some such(prenominal) as grin and bear it or soldiering on, the word is used differently in doing. In bear the word acceptance refers to the provideingness to experience wretched emotions and experiences tha t are encountered in the process of behaving in a way which is consistent with ones surveys (Flaxman and Blackledge, 2010).Commitment refers to a public commitment to a particularized value or value-consistent behavior, where the one-on-one acts in accordance with their values. For example, a person whose value is to be a caring fellow may commit to taking their provide out for a meal to each one week.Solution-focused brief therapySolution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) was developed by Steve De Shazer and Insoo Kim iceberg lettuce in 1986. SFBT views that metamorphose can come from two primary sources, for the root season by getting clients to discuss their pet judgment of conviction to come, for example what their lives competency look like should therapy be thriving and, secondly, by exposit their skills and resources that clients have at their disposal (Macdonald, 2011). SFBT holds that wrangle and words are very important, and that helping clients communicat ion active their lives in much useful dustup can lead to controlling change. One of the major differences amongst SFBT and other psychotherapies is that opus SFBT acknowledged that clients break away to come to therapy to talk round their line of works, the SFBT bequeath not back up them to talk active their problems, but rather to talk astir(predicate) ancestors (Rafter, Evans and Iveson, 2012).One of the central assumptions of SFBT is that the client get out choose the destructions for therapy and that the client themselves have resources which they lead use in making changes (Macdonald, 2011). The therapeutic conversation aims at restoring hope and self-esteem, plot of ground reducing anxiety to a depict where people become able to think more than widely and creatively about solutions. SFBT holds that high anxiety can contain cognition and attention to the surrounding milieu and that, by reducing anxiety, it would allow for wider opinion about contingent a pproaches to problems, as sound as mobilizing their existing strengths and resources to address their coveted goals (Rafter et al, 2012).Therapeutic apprisalship and goalsThe healer adopts a non-expert or not-knowing stance, in which the individualist selects the goals and the promoter to get to the goals. Unrealistic goals may be negotiated with the healer. Unlike other therapies no formulation is given and no advice is given as to what should be done next. As Insoo Kim Berg said leave no footprints in the clients deportment. The word brief in SFBT stand fors that therapy should not last one more session than is necessary. enquiry shows that the average client utilizes 3 to 6 and a half sessions (Macdonald, 2011).The healer seeks to suffer respectful curiosity about the clients maculation. The healer assumes that change is realistic or even inevitable, given the nature of the human existence, this philosophical stand tiptop has its basis in Buddhist teachings, t hat change is a continual process and stableness is only an illusion (Richard, 2011).Assumptions of SFBTDe Shazers 3 rules which underpin SFBT1 If it aint broke dont arrange it2 Once you know what works do more of it3 If it doesnt work, dont do it again, do something different (Rafter et al, 2012).All clients are propel towards something. Clients do not lack pauperism and it is the therapists job to unwrap what they are motivated towards. Attempting to understand the cause of the problem is not helpful and, in some cases, can be bruising as clients get caught up in describing their situation in damaging language. yet fixed a problem manikin may be, the client exit be lovable in some of the solution.Lindas presenting problemLinda has come to counseling, as she appears shy(p) about the direction her life is heading. there appears to be a recess between what Linda wanted to be and what she perceives herself to be now. She has described issues with her abetter _or_ abettor, including arguments over marriage. Linda in addition describes some negative thoughts about herself such as emotional stateing futureless and not honest generous. These thoughts and tonusing appears to be very distressing to Linda. Many of these thoughts appear to be related to her new job where is often feels pathetic. Linda has alike stated that she has found social interaction less rewarding recently and describes it as pointless.Linda and diddleOne of the first steps for Linda would be discussing with the ACT therapist her chosen life values, that is the things that are nigh important in Lindas life. For example, Linda ability decide that world very successful in her work is an important value for her. Once the goal is established the therapist and Linda would look to commit to a pattern of behavior that is in line with the goal of cosmos successful at work. Often avoidance and cognitive fusion issues can act as a barrier for clients in achieving their goals. Experiential Avoidance, Cognitive Fusions and LindaWithin ACT, the case formulation is that affectional dis battle arrays are the result of unsuccessful attempts to secede from challenging private events that the individual is slow to experience (Zettle, 2004). This is also known as experiential avoidance, which can be delineate as the process by which individuals shut up in strategies designed to alter the frequency or experience of private events, such as thoughts and feelings, memories or bodily sensations (Sonja, 2011). For example, Linda describes herself as conservative and not much of a risk taker up to this point in her life Linda has taken jobs that are hearty within her comfort zone.As such, Linda may have avoided challenging work environments and avoided the force and criticism that comes along with these positions. The ACT therapist would focus on a melt of work with Linda encouraging her to experience the right spectrum of thoughts, feelings and emotions so she does not feel the motivating to avoid or escape (Sonja, 2011). In this case expecting Linda to experience the thought/feeling that she is sometimes not good enough. By facing this thought Linda may become more favourable with it, and be able to function even in the presence of these distressing thoughts.As experiential avoidance is seen as the key cause to psychological distress it stands to rationalness that the solution would lie in engaging clients in the situations they find difficult. If we accept that life will inevitably have psychologically distressful events and that often these events cannot be avoided, then therapy should help clients accept the distress that arises during life. At the core of RFTs account of language and cognitions is the assumption that the kind of abstract, evaluative words we struggle with that claim to capture reality, in event cannot. Thus, the acceptance part of ACT is not an acceptance of how an individually literally perceives it, but rather the acceptance of his experience as it is, and not how his mind says it is.In this instance ACT would look to slue the hold of language on the situation. Linda may make the disputation Im hopeless, ACT would look to reframe this to Im having thoughts that Im hopeless rather than Im hopeless. Reframing the statement in this way would touch on Linda away from defining herself as being hopeless to defining herself as a person who sometimes feels hopeless this would hopefully lessen the psychological distress and help Linda be more able to move towards her chosen goals.Linda and SFBTSFBT holds that there are two powerful tools to assisting recovery. The first, that irrefutable talk about an individuals preferred future will result in irresponsible change and secondly, identifying and highlighting the resources an individual already has at their disposal will founder allow the individuals to use those resources. The SFBT therapist may ask Linda What are your best hopes for therapy? frankincense encouraging problem dislodge talk which is used to enhance the therapeutic coalescence (Rafter et al, 2012). Problem free talk can often reduce anxiety and wickedness if the therapist enquires about their success and sideline as well as the problem. For example Linda has stated that there is a gap between how she is and how she wants to be, the SFBT therapist may ask Can you tell me about a time when your actual self and ideal self were closer together?mayhap one of the to the highest degree famous elements of SFBT is the miracle dubiousness as such it is worth feel at the miracle principal in relation to Linda. The miracle dubiousness is designed to bring a sense of optimism and play, allowing creative thinking to supply and confirming the goals already identified at the outset (Richard, 2011). The miracle question is designed to encourage the client to talk about the effectiveness positive results of successful treatment. The miracle question is as followsIm going to ask you a kind of strange question now. Suppose pause you go to bed and to sopor tonight as usual pause and while you are hypnoid a miracle happens pause and the problem that bought you here today look round all present is solved pause. But you are asleep and dont know that it has been solved pause. What will be the first trivial sign that this miracle has happened and that the problem is solved?When asked the miracle question Linda would be prompted to describe feelings, thoughts or emotions which she wants to have in the future. She may answer headspring I guess I competency feel more confident in my abilities, I may be more comfortable with who I am and I wouldnt feel so nauseating. The SFBT therapist would then seek to dramatise on this answer by request what else? while always focusing on the positive elements of the answers. In the above example we see that Linda says I wouldnt feel so anxious the SFBT therapist may respond Well you say you wouldnt f eel anxious, so what would you feel? to which Linda would hopefully respond with something positive Id feel calm and satisfied.ACT vs. SFBTThe power of languageboth ACT and SFBT hold language as a powerful influence on human distress. ACT argues that as human language has become more complex it has also presented humans with new challenges. Specifically how we use language to relate our own self to other people/stimuli. People look into arbitrary ways of evaluating themselves and their experiences in culturally agreed upon ways, for example having no partner means that you are undesirable, being inadequate is bad and people hold these statements as rules or absolute truths (Sonja, 2011). Take, for example, the statement being inadequate is bad this could lead an individual who has been inadequate to conclude that they themselves are bad, the individual may arrive at this outcome without acknowledging the subjective and incomplete nature of the statement being inadequate is bad. Hu mans, concord to ACT, come to place too much value in the accuracy of language. so language holds so much power that what is verbally believed is consumed as consentaneous fact (Sonja, 2011).SFBT focuses on a different effect of language on the human condition. While ACT states that its how we relate language to ambiguous stimuli which is the cause of psychological distress, SFBT focus on the use of problem free talk to improve an individuals psychological distress. SFBT holds that talk about solutions rather than the problem will in itself allow for positive change in an individuals life. The idea being that time is spent talking about individuals strengths, rather than their problems, will reduce stress. When stress is reduced SFBT holds that clients are more able to access solutions for their problems, as when clients are anxious they have restricted cognitions.The therapeutic relationshipStudies have indicated that the therapeutic union has a significant impact on the o utcome of treatment (Lambert and Barley, 2002). ACT and SFBT theatrical role some similar ideas around what the therapeutic relationship should look like. Both approaches believe that the therapist should take a not-knowing position which puts the therapist in the same boat as the client. In ACT the therapist acknowledges that they themselves are human and struggle as well and thereof they should be able to admit ACT principals to their own experiences in order to respond consistently and coherently with the model and to form an authentic relationship. If the therapist does not apply the principal to their life in and out of the session they may come across as misrepresented (Sonja, 2011).While ACT requires the therapist to buy into the principles they are preaching, SFBT requires the therapist to assume that change is possible and even inevitable, given the nature of human existence. The therapist needs to hold genuine optimism about the possibility of recovery. An SFBT heal er also uses language matching or language tracking as a means to building a solid therapeutic relationship. Language matching refers to when the therapist uses the clients word for events and situations. If possible the therapist should use words or phrases the client uses in every statement. It is argued that renaming something amounts to contradicting the clients, which may not be helpful in building relationships.Personal preferenceBoth ACT and SFBT have strong and affective therapeutic intervention styles. In my opinion, it is ACTs crotchety approach to psychological distress that stands out as the most powerful. The idea that part of being human involves times of psychological distress resonates strongly with my own set of ideas. Indeed severe to restrict unpleasant psychological experiences seems in some ways to be unnatural, and against what it is to be human. Helping people to live and function in the presence of distressing emotions seems a more worthwhile pursuit than attempting to head off or restrict unpleasant experiences. In modern society there is an regression with the idea that people should be joyful all the time and this creates a situation whereby people who do not feel happy feel bad about not being happy and thus compound their misery.The central idea of SFBT, that the therapeutic session should be centered on solutions rather than the problems is a clever hint on the traditional approach to therapy. In my opinion, it makes sense to spend more time talking about what resources an individual might have and engaging in positive speak rather than talking at length about what is going wrong. Psychodynamic therapists have long said if you name an emotion in a session, then briefly that emotion will appear, often accompanied by memories and experiences connected to it, therefore it stands to causation that if the problem is discussed at length this will be accompanied by the negative thoughts and emotions experienced with it, eq ually if the solution is discussed the thoughts and emotions may be more positive and harbor hope. I feel that this technique could be easily amalgamated into other therapeutic frameworks. It would also be personally more enjoyable to the therapist to be discussing positive solutions, rather than spending all the time listening to problems.ConclusionBoth ACT and SFBT offer a unique take of traditional psychotherapies. ACT helps individuals in achieving their chosen life goals even in the face of psychological distress and difficulties, while SFBT approaches psychological distress in a unique way by focusing less on the distress itself but rather the solutions and resources the individual has available to themselves. For Linda, ACT would have in mind some exposure of her fears of criticism, in order for her to achieve her goal of superior success, ACT would help her deal with the inevitable professional criticism which occurs in high squash jobs. While SFBT would lessen Lindas a nxieties with solution focused talk, which in turn would mean that Linda could more affectively assess her personal resources and apply them to achieving her goals.ReferencesBatten, Sonja V. (2011). Essentials of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Retrieved from http//www.eblib.comCorsini, Raymon., Wedding, Danny. (2014). Current Psychotherapies. joined States of America Brooks/Cole.Flaxman, Paul E. Blackledge, J.T. 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