ALF Creations @ The Star Heart Cafe: September 2018

My introduction to third wave CBT came with reading the Happiness Trap by Russ Harris which introduced me to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Discovering the other third wave therapies has been like a journey which has finally led me to Buddhism.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

The six core processes at work in ACT are

1. Values

2. Committed action

3. Acceptance

4. Defusion

5. Mindfulness

6. Observing self

Working on and with the processes you can develop psychological flexibility which makes you able to better handle anything life might throw at you. One of the main areas ACT helps with is experiential avoidance, it is a kind of 'Feel the fear and do it anyway' therapy.

I was very excited when I found out that psychology had moved on and was now putting acceptance ahead of positivity. Accepting the negative and committing to the positive seemed such a good way to go.

The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris really opened my mind up to a new way of viewing and living my life. I would also recommend Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Dummies which includes many helpful practical exercises.

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)

Main Book Read: Wherever you go, there you are by Jon Kabat-Zinn
New York, Piatkus, 2004

This is a lovely book, guiding you in meditation, but not with the easy guided meditations you get in the third wave therapy books. As far as I can tell the new mindfulness based therapies started with Jon Kabat-Zinn and his Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction programme which requires participants to meditate for forty-five minutes every day. I really enjoyed Full Catastrophe Living, it was very long and very wise. I have two of his guided meditation CDs which are very helpful. He has certainly encouraged me to give Buddhism a go. I love what I have found out about Buddhism and have decided to attempt to persevere with it.

Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)

The two books I have about MBCT revolve around the '8 week mindfulness course'. The courses look more or less like this:

Week 1 involves waking up from autopilot through becoming aware of your breath
Week 2 introduces more body awareness with the body scan meditation
Week 3 involves mindful movement, a kind of basic yoga
Week 4 involves listening to music more mindfully
Week 5 explores difficulties through guided meditation
Week 6 introduces the loving-kindness meditation
Week 7 involves cultivating mindful routines
Week 8 expands mindfulness into daily life

Mindfulness by Williams and Penman also includes helpful and extremely short meditations like the 1 minute meditation, the 3 minute breathing space meditation, the chocolate meditation and the frustrating queue meditation. The Beginners Guide to Mindfulness also includes useful breath awareness and body scan meditations as well as exercises on making space for difficult emotions, observing your thinking, developing non-judging skills and developing more mindful routines.

Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT)

At the heart of CFT is kindness, humanity and acceptance. This therapy involves relaxation exercises, being at peace, listening to sad music and visualisations such as 'safe place' and 'flow of life'. There is a lot of mindfulness in it. I found it a bit too light for me, I have a dark side which I have made friends with, there does not seem to be much space for this in CFT.

In Mindfulness Based Compassionate Living I encountered another breathing space meditation and the compassionate body scan. It explained the differences between the three psychological systems of Threat, Drive and Soothing, and how we can tune into them when we need them. This therapy introduces these four Buddhist friends for life:

1. Loving-kindness.

2. Compassion.

3. Sympathetic joy.

4. Equanimity.

It also explains that living happily requires three fundamental qualities: your life should be pleasant, engaged and meaningful. I have found this to be the least helpful third wave therapy I have encountered.

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)

DBT is the last therapy I have been exploring. In many ways it has been the most practical and helpful. DBT seems to have a lot in common with the 'Serenity Prayer' used by Alcoholics Anonymous. The dialect being between acceptance and change.

'God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can and wisdom to know the difference'
Reinhold Niebuhr

It involves many practical coping strategies to help people cope with strong moods and emotions. These include distraction and soothing skills, doing more positive and enjoyable things, having goals, creating a crisis plan, as well as mindfulness.

DBT addresses these four areas of therapeutic intervention in great detail

1. Distress tolerance
2. Mindfulness
3. Emotion regulation
4. Interpersonal effectiveness.

Guided meditations for DBT include visualisations, naming emotions, relaxation, loving-kindness and the ubiquitous breath awareness and body scan. Other useful DBT ideas are keeping a mood diary, emotion exposure and developing assertiveness skills. It all seems to be very practical and helpful, especially for teenagers and people with BPD.

Basic Buddhism

Seeing as all these third wave therapies seem to have a big Buddhist element in them, I have concluded that I might just as well become a basic Buddhist. I think I will become more involved in Buddhism when I am older, but for the time being, with family, home and work commitments being what they are, basic Buddhism will have to do. These are the Buddhist ideas I am most eager to explore.

Impermanence
Compassion
Selflessness
Mindfulness
Non-judging
Letting-go

My favourite book I have so far discovered on basic Buddhism is the Art of Living by Thich Nhat Hanh, London, Rider, 2017. Other books with really good, basic Buddhist guided meditations have been Buddha's Brain and Siddhartha's Brain.

Selected Bibliography

ACT

Acceptance and commitment therapy for Dummies by Brown and Gillard

Chichester, John Wiley and sons, 2016

The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris

London, Robinson, 2008

MBSR

Wherever you go, there you are by Jon Kabat-Zinn

New York, Piatkus, 2004

MBCT

Mindfulness by M. Williams and D. Penman

London, Piatkus, 2011