Summary of Dr. Steven C. Hayes A Liberated Mind

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 We have made incredible progress over the last fifty years, but we are also struggling to live meaningful, peaceful lives full of love and contribution. Our culture and minds haven’t adjusted to the rapidly changing world.
#2 The good news is that behavioral science has developed a set of skills that can help us better navigate life’s challenges. These skills, called psychological flexibility, help us turn toward our discomfort and disquiet in a way that is open, curious, and kind.
#3 The new science of psychological flexibility is not aping old themes, but it is understanding why these methods work. They help us turn toward our pain, and it is through this that we can begin developing the flexibility skills that will help us live happier and healthier lives.
#4 Psychological rigidity is the attempt to avoid negative thoughts and feelings caused by difficult experiences. It is at its core an attempt to avoid negative thoughts and feelings, and it often leads to anxiety, depression, and other problems.

Sujets

• Love
• Love (disambiguation)
• Psychiatry
• Général

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 04 mars 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669349914
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on Steven C. Hayes PhD's A Liberated Mind
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

We have made incredible progress over the last fifty years, but we are also struggling to live meaningful, peaceful lives full of love and contribution. Our culture and minds haven’t adjusted to the rapidly changing world.

#2

The good news is that behavioral science has developed a set of skills that can help us better navigate life’s challenges. These skills, called psychological flexibility, help us turn toward our discomfort and disquiet in a way that is open, curious, and kind.

#3

The new science of psychological flexibility is not aping old themes, but it is understanding why these methods work. They help us turn toward our pain, and it is through this that we can begin developing the flexibility skills that will help us live happier and healthier lives.

#4

Psychological rigidity is the attempt to avoid negative thoughts and feelings caused by difficult experiences. It is at its core an attempt to avoid negative thoughts and feelings, and it often leads to anxiety, depression, and other problems.

#5

We are all subject to the dictator within, a part of our mind that constantly suggests solutions for our psychological pain, even though our own experience whispers that these solutions are toxic.

#6

We are paying a psychological price because what is really wrong within is treating life as a problem to be solved rather than a process to be lived. When we attempt to solve our problems by disappearing into rumination, we become so focused on them that they control our lives.

#7

The trap of rigidity is made worse by the messages we receive from the culture at large. Many businesses thrive on this messaging. You can eliminate your anxiety if you just learn to control your thoughts, and life will be better.

#8

The idea that we must challenge and change our thoughts to overcome negative emotions is not as important as it was made out to be. It is now known that this part of CBT, cognitive restructuring, is not what is most effective in treating mental illness.

#9

The idea that we can eliminate or completely restructure our thoughts is unnecessary and even futile. Our nervous system does not contain a delete button, and thought and memory processes are too complex to make them neat and tidy.

#10

To experience peace of mind, you must let go of your need to escape and instead focus on entering the realm of strength.

#11

I was so caught up in the struggle against my anxiety that I didn’t realize I was trying to control it. I was trying to avoid situations and events that could cause me anxiety, which only made my anxiety worse. I had to learn how to accept my anxiety, and eventually learn how to pivot away from it and toward a new, healthier me.

#12

The six pivots that enable us to live with more psychological flexibility are: 1) understanding how our thinking processes evolved, 2) recognizing the negative effects those processes have on us, and 3) discovering methods for overcoming those effects.

#13

Cognitive fusion is when you buy into what your thoughts tell you and let them dictate what you do. This trick of mind happens because we are programmed to notice the world only as it is structured by thought. We miss the fact that we are thinking.

#14

We all have stories about who we are and who others are in relation to us. When we hold onto these stories, it becomes difficult to be honest with ourselves or to make room for other thoughts, feelings, or behaviors that might benefit us and others.

#15

The Acceptance pivot is the process of moving from experiential avoidance to acceptance. It involves choosing to feel with openness and curiosity, so that you can live the kind of life you want to live while inviting your feelings to come along for the ride.

#16

Processes of rigid attention are shown up as ruminating about the past or worrying about the future. They are also displayed by being blindly attracted to or repulsed by our current experiences. Flexible attention, on the other hand, is shown by choosing to pay attention to events that are helpful or meaningful right now, and ignoring those that are not.

#17

People often attempt to achieve goals because they feel they must, or else they will be disappointed in themselves. However, such externally focused goals are weak and ineffective. The yearning for self-direction and purpose cannot be fully met by goal achievement since that is always either in the future or the past.

#18

The Action pivot is the process of competently and continuously building habits in small steps linked to the construction of larger habits of loving, caring, participating, creating, or any other chosen value.

#19

The six flexibility skills are: acceptance, commitment, control, perspective, values, and action. They allow us to deal with life’s problems, and they help us live healthier and more meaningful lives.

#20

Studies have shown that people who are exposed to a program that teaches them to be more flexible in the face of life's challenges experience less anxiety, depression, and drug usage.

#21

The science of psychological flexibility has been tested and proven to work in a wide variety of areas, from anxiety to substance abuse to eating disorders, and it has been shown to help people cope with physical disease, manage their relationships better, and reduce stress.

#22

The key to making change is psychological flexibility, which means learning the key set of pivotal psychological skills. Once you learn them, beginning a healthy process of change is about as far away as saying the word begin.

#23

I developed ACT after I hit bottom with my struggle against anxiety. I made several important steps toward recovery, and I realized that changing our relationship to our thoughts and emotions is the key to healing and realizing our true potential.

#24

I had been struggling with anxiety for some time. The rancor in my department that had triggered my first panic attack had become a full-fledged civil war, with my colleagues fighting in a way of which only wild animals and full professors are capable.

#25

I had fallen completely under the control of my internal critic, which was constantly telling me either to avoid my anxiety or to somehow overpower it. I had to learn how to stop feeding it chunks of my freedom.

#26

The voice is the ego, and it is the story of I. It is constantly weaving a story about who we are, how we compare to others, and what we must do to ensure that we are OK. We become entangling with this voice, and take its dictates literally.

#27

I found that focusing on changing my thoughts as I wrestled with my anxiety only empowered my Dictator Within. The more determined I became that I needed to get over panic, or through it, or around it, the more I had panic attacks.

#28

I had a heart attack in 1981, and I was sure that I was not going to die from it. I was thirty-three years old, and I had never been overweight or drank excessively. I was going to be recommended for tenure at a major state university.

#29

I was deathly afraid of making the call, but I felt disconnected from my body as though I were standing aside looking at myself. I watched a hand extend out for the now-beeping phone, and then hesitate and retreat slowly back to my lap.

#30

I suddenly realized that the voice in my head was not me, but rather a product of a set of thought processes that were in me. I could choose to listen to them or not.

#31

When we think we’re thinking logically, we’re actually not. We’re constantly generating thoughts and ideas that aren’t necessarily relevant or true, and we can choose which ones to pay attention to and which to ignore.

#32

I realized I had the power to turn my anxiety towards or away from any experience. I decided I would not turn away from my anxiety, but rather, turn towards it and accept it.

#33

I made a commitment to myself that I would take all of me, including the scared parts, and move forward with my life. I understood that the insights I had gained would help me change my relationship with my anxiety, as well as my methods of working with clients.

#34

I wanted to understand why negative thought patterns are so compelling, and why we find them so hard to shake. I suspected that with the answers, we could achieve numerous positive goals, not just helping people break free from the monkey traps of thought that imprison them in so many unhealthy conditions, but also training children with deficiencies in thinking and emotional skills how to reason or how to connect with others in a healthy way.

#35

The first three pivots in the Accepting and Committing cycle are to accept that your life is not perfect, to accept that you will not feel like doing anything, and to accept that you will not be able to control everything.

#36

The field of psychology and psychiatry has been heavily influenced by mainstream traditions that are scientifically flawed, and at times even counterproductive. Understanding how those approaches have failed is important to appreciate the power of the ACT findings and methods.

#37

The field of psychology was dominated in the first half of the last century by psychoanalysis and psychodynamic theory. It exerts vast influence to this day. Freud was a careful clinical observer, but he made many unverified claims about the unconscious motivations behind problematic behavior.

#38

The psychoanalytic tradition, which was based on the idea that a conflict between urges and restrictions placed on them underlies abnormal behavior, is largely unfounded. Modern versions of the psychoanalytic tradition emphasize the importance of examining present thoughts and emotions or interpersonal