Inside This Moment: A Clinician's Guide to Promoting Radical Change Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

by Kirk D. Strosahl, Patricia J. Robinson, Thomas Gustavsson

"A practical guide that presents a user-friendly approach to helping patients enact radical change and acceptance through mindfulness in their personal lives." 
— Family Medicine 

In this breakthrough book, cofounder of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), Kirk Strosahl and two fellow ACT psychologists offer a brief, five-stage model to help you recognize, assess, and take advantage of the subtle shifts of awareness that occur during therapy to achieve the most effective intervention and successful treatment outcomes. In therapy, it is essential for both clinicians and their clients to pay attention to each moment in-session as an opportunity to create change. In addition, clients must be willing to experience pain in the present moment in order to make lasting change and begin to live according to their values. But staying in the moment is harder than it sounds. Inside This Moment offers a powerful skill set for learning to live in the now—even when it hurts. To help you and your client make the most of your time in treatment sessions, this book includes clinical examples of working with clients via self-related processes, and offers tips for what to do when faced with certain non-verbal and verbal client behaviors, such You'll learn that you don't need to go looking for radical change opportunities—but rather that the opportunities are transpiring right in front of you. This book will allow you to relax and trust in the power of the "now" in your therapy sessions.

Genres: Psychology

232 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2015

Reviews

[Cameron · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of the most helpful books I've read on the topic. It includes the neurobiological underpinnings of the model, provides a framework that shows how to apply that knowledge to various mental health disorders, along with how conversations should be structured as a result. It used clinical vignettes and sample conversations to provide examples of the points they were making and give practical knowledge on how their system is used for a wide array of clients. I highly recommend this to any budding therapist that works from an ACT framework or a seasoned clinician who is new to the model.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The authors introduce a method consisting of five steps or phases, which ultimately serve to change the client's perspective regarding his painful (and thus often avoided) experiences. The prerequisite is getting this experience up on the table in the here and now, being able to experience it, label it and then detach from it.

What I liked about this book:
The general structure of the book and the chapters. The authors also include neuroscientific background in each chapter. The chapters furthermore include quite extensive case examples.

What leaves me thoughtful:
Every case example depicts a rather profound change in the client in a relatively short time. As far as I am aware, Strosahl & Robinson generally propose that important change is possible in a very limited amount of time (see "Brief Interventions for Radical Change" which I haven't yet read). I am sure there are clients who respond well to these short, one-time interventions and create and experience important change from there onwards. At the same time I think that some clients will likely benefit more from a slower pace, focusing on strengthening the therapeutic relationship first.

All in all, this book offers a nice and simple set of steps of working in the present moment. I could clearly recognize the ACT processes in those steps, but I think that most therapists and counselors can benefit from this book, irrespective of their school of therapy.

[Jason Schofield · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant re-imagining of ACT. I absolutely loved this book.

[Xander K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best of the best ACT books so far. This was the most helpful reformulation of clinical work I have read. I will be readily implementing these ideas to my clinical practice.