New Book Turns Assumptions of Traditional Psychology on Their Heads

Suffering is an aberration. If you're experiencing it, something must be wrong with you biologically or psychologically, and you should set about righting it before you can get on with your life. If you were normal, after all, you'd be happy, right?

Not so, according to the tenets of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT, said as a single word), a revolutionary new psychology that turns traditional psychotherapy on its head. ACT holds that pain is ubiquitous, universal, and unavoidable-and, moreover, many of the conventional strategies for "controlling" pain actually perpetuate and deepen it.

"People suffer. We don't assume that if left to their own devices, normal human beings are happy and that only an odd history or a broken biology disturbs the peace. We assume instead that suffering is normal, and it is the unusual person who learns how to create peace of mind," says Steven Hayes, leading ACT theorist and author of Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life: The New Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.

If you stopped reading here you might despair, but ACT offers an exciting new set of tools that can help free you from emotional pain and live a fulfilling life. Mindfulness practices that have their roots in Eastern thought, but that have been adapted for use in the modern world are central to the ACT program. Acceptance, rather than avoidance, of pain and living a life that is guided by values rather than dictated by emotion are the other key components.

Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life offers a clear and readable overview of ACT that anyone can easily follow and step-by-step guidance for implementing its life-changing strategies.

For more information e-mail Lorna Garano or call 510-652-0215, x107.