Kirk D. Strosahl - Inside This Moment: A Clinicians Guide to Promoting Radical Change Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Kirk D. Strosahl, PhD, is cofounder of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), a cognitive behavioral approach that has gained widespread adoption in the mental health and substance-abuse communities. He is coauthor of Brief Interventions for Radical Change and other core ACT books. Strosahl works as a practicing psychologist at Central Washington Family Medicine, a community health center providing health care to medically underserved patients. He also teaches family medicine physicians how to use the principles of mindfulness and acceptance in general practice. Strosahl lives in Zillah, WA.

Patricia J. Robinson, PhD, is director of training and program evaluation at Mountainview Consulting Group, Inc., a firm that assists health care systems with integrating behavioral health services into primary care settings. She is coauthor of Real Behavior Change in Primary Care and The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Depression. After exploring primary care psychology as a researcher, she devoted her attention to dissemination in rural America, urban public health departments, and military medical treatment facilities. Robinson lives in Portland, OR.

Thomas Gustavsson, MSc, is a licensed psychologist and cofounder of Psykologpartners, a company providing residential psychology and psychiatry services for self-harming clients in Scandinavia.

This lovely book transforms a rigorous psychometric approach to the components of mindfulness into a compassionate and user-friendly guide for teaching clients to live in the present moment, in ways that will change how they see the world and live their lives.

Ruth Baer, PhD, professor of psychology at the University of Kentucky and author of The Practicing Happiness Workbook

In this well-written and thoughtful book, Kirk Strosahl, Patricia Robinson, and Thomas Gustavsson have paved a path to my personal clinical heart. They have tapped into and conveyed, with a clear and engaging voice, my favorite quality of psychotherapythe present moment. In Inside This Moment, the authors provide a truly useful guide for clinicians, assisting them to understand and build life-changing moments in the therapeutic process and relationship. The five essential tasks involved in creating these powerful momentsnoticing, naming, detaching, holding, and expandingare explored with clinical acuity and neuroscience backing. This book will help you to help your clients transform their lives. It is my belief that working to develop present-moment awareness is the soul of acceptance and commitment therapy, and Strosahl, Robinson, and Gustavsson have beautifully and knowledgably put this process into words.

Robyn D. Walser, PhD, past president of the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science, associate director for dissemination and training at the National Center for PTSD, assistant clinical professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and coauthor of The Mindful Couple and Learning ACT

Theyve done it again. The cocreators of FACT (focused acceptance and commitment therapy) have written another innovative, creative, and incredibly practical guide to brief therapy with ACT, this time expertly explaining their interventions in terms of the underlying neuroscience. Its novel, powerful, and cutting-edge; a breath of fresh air in the ever-growing pantheon of ACT literature. Highly recommended!

Russ Harris, author of The Happiness Trap and ACT Made Simple

This is a beautifully written book that masterfully combines science, theory, and practice. An invaluable tool for clinicians who want to engender more mindfulness and self-compassion in their clients, it maximizes the power of acceptance and commitment therapy to change lives.

Kristin Neff, PhD, associate professor in human development and culture at the University of Texas at Austin, and author of Self-Compassion

There are several reasons why I feel this book is a significant contribution to our field. First, as a longtime practitioner who uses the notion of present moment in my work with clients, the authors have cleared up a sticky concept that I have struggled withthat is, what is actually meant by the present moment. They do so in a way that covers its function, rather than a topographical description. For example, they clearly indicate that mindfulness practice is not the only way to contact the present moment. Second, theres a constant theme throughout the book in which either theory, research findings, and methods are described and then related to clinical practice. In particular they emphasize what happens during the therapy sessiona topic of particular interest and importance from my perspective. Third, they cover a topic close to my heart in which they ask the clinician to use the same methods applied to clients to heal themselves. Fourth, their approach is coherence with contextual behavioral science. Finally, the authors keep their eye on the ball of providing an approach that clinicians can use by detailing how-to application to common clinical problems. I highly recommend this book.

Robert J. Kohlenberg, PhD, ABPP, professor of psychology at the University of Washington, cofounder of functional analytic psychotherapy (FAP)

Publishers Note

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering psychological, financial, legal, or other professional services. If expert assistance or counseling is needed, the services of a competent professional should be sought.

Distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books

Elements of the section Self-Assessment: Taking Inventory of Your Present-Moment Processing Skills have been adapted from the Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) in R. Baer, G. Smith, E. Lykins, D. Button, J. Kreitemeyer, S. Sauer, et al. 2008. Construct Validity of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire in Meditating and Non-Meditating Samples. Assessment, 15:329342. Used by permission of the authors.

Copyright 2015 by Kirk D. Strosahl, Patricia J. Robinson, and Thomas Gustavsson

Context Press

An Imprint of New Harbinger Publications, Inc.

5674 Shattuck Avenue

Oakland, CA 94609

www.newharbinger.com

Cover design by Amy Shoup

Acquired by Catharine Meyers

Edited by Jasmine Star

Indexed by James Minkin

All Rights Reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Strosahl, Kirk, 1950- author.

Inside this moment : a clinicians guide to promoting radical change using acceptance and commitment therapy / Kirk D. Strosahl, Patricia J. Robinson, Thomas Gustavsson.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-62625-324-7 (paperback) -- ISBN 978-1-62625-325-4 (pdf e-book) -- ISBN 978-1-62625-326-1 (epub) 1. Acceptance and commitment therapy. 2. Awareness. I. Robinson, Patricia J., author. II. Gustavsson, Thomas, author. III. Title.

RC489.A32S773 2015

616.891425--dc23

2015018132

To Patti: How lucky am I? I get to write about things that inspire me with a coauthor and life partner who inspires me even more. To my brother, Mark Strosahl: Ill never forget you, pal. This ones for you. And to Jasmine Star, our insanely talented copy editor, thought generator, and cheerleader. You are awesome.