Whether we live with depression, anxiety, insistent memories of a difficult past, or any other issues with our mood, thoughts, feelings, and memories, this is a great book that can help create a different understanding of how to live with, and alter, those experiences in a lasting way that fosters a life of self-efficacy, contentment, and joy.
This is a therapeutic philosophy and practice that I think has many strong points. I use some aspects of it in some of my therapeutic approaches and in my own life as well. A few of ACT's strong points are: 1) A focus on the understanding that our experiences, thoughts and feelings are true, valid and reasonable rather than emphasizing trying to change them because they are not right. 2) How to improve our flexibility in facing life's challenges and increasing our willingness to face these challenges from a place of safety, curiosity, and self-efficacy. 3) Encouraging us to be willing to create and participate a life that is congruent with our ideas about who we are, what we believe in, and what kind of life we want to live rather than living a life that is over-focused on avoiding pain and other negative experiences. Many of ACT's ideas and techniques are intuitive and reflect much of our inherent wisdom, but present them in ways that are practical and work explicitly toward creating a life that we value and strive for. Additional information on ACT can be found here.
Some of the aspects I think are good about this approach are its recognition of the importance of relationships in our lives and an understanding of the need to find an ever-shifting balance between individual agency and the needs of our complex web of relationships. This philosophy of therapy emphasizes emancipation and peace for our selves and communities and how we can create lives and relationships we value despite adversity and challenges.
After surviving Nazi death camps, Dr. Viktor Frankl wrote extensively about how we find sources of resilience to the difficulties we face every day and in extraordinary times through the discovery and creation of meaning. His work is accessible and deeply moving. His book,
This researcher has a number of good ideas about healing from traumatic experiences. I find his work compelling because it is deeply compassionate and recognizes that much of our trauma, from emotional abuse to childhood sex abuse to rape to torture, has social and political roots. In order to heal from trauma these root causes, such as sexism, racism and other abuses of power, need to be taken into account. His healing modality also emphasizes the importance of interpersonal relationships in healing.