Transforming Shame with ACT: A Case Study on Building Self-Compassion and Psychological Flexibility
Shame is one of the most painful human emotions.
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Understanding ACT Processes: Why Mediation Research Is So Challenging
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is built around a clear idea: psychological suffering is often driven by rigid patterns of avoidance and fusion with difficult thoughts and feelings.
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Addressing Intersectional Stigma Among HIV-Positive Individuals Who Inject Drugs: A Novel ACT-Based Intervention
HIV-positive people who inject drugs (PWID) face profound barriers to healthcare, largely due to the intersectional stigma associated with both their substance use and HIV status.
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Empowering Marginalized Populations: A New Approach to Coping with Intersectional Stigma for People with HIV Who Inject Drugs
In HIV treatment, the barriers to care are numerous and complex, especially for those already marginalized by society.
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Exploring the Efficacy of ACT-Informed Exposure for Excoriation Disorder: A New Approach in Treatment
Excoriation Disorder (ExD), commonly known as skin picking disorder, presents significant challenges for those who suffer from it, often leading to severe distress and self-consciousness about their appearance.
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Addressing Shame in Body Dysmorphic Disorder: A Promising New Approach
Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) is a severe mental health condition characterized by an obsessive focus on perceived flaws in one’s appearance, often leading to significant distress and impairment in daily functioning.
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New Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Resources for the Public
At Portland Psychotherapy, for years we’ve been maintaining a list of the best ACT resources for the public that we know about.
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Ditch self-care. Try values instead.
I have a secret, one that I hide from most of my other therapist friends and colleagues.
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Podcast Fights Mental Health Stigma Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
In a time when the public discourse around mental health struggles is permeated with sweeping generalizations of “those” mentally ill people and calls to “lock them up,” a new podcast attempts to bring common humanity back into how we discuss the psychological suffering we all face as humans.
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So…Whatever Happened to Your New Year’s Resolutions?
Lose 20 pounds. Find a husband. Makeover every room the Marie Kondo way.
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Women! – We Are More Than Our Stories
This summer, I attended the first ever “Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) BootCamp for Women’s Issues.”
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Embrace Discomfort and Connect to the Meaningful Things in Your Life
Did you make a new year’s resolution at the start of this year?
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The Pursuit of Happiness: Understanding the Research
Does valuing happiness help us live a joyful life, or does it backfire?
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Hair Pulling (AKA Trichotillomania) and Skin Picking Problems – Greater Research Support for Behavior Therapy over Medication
Trichotillomania (or trich for short) is a condition in which people repeatedly pull out their body hair, often leading to bald patches and thinning. The scalp is a common site—as are eyebrows and…
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Pain, values, compassion, and a dying dog
Just about three years ago, I wrote a blog post titled “Pain and values: two sides of the same coin” about our amazing dog Dalai.
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Helping People Grieve with Compassion
One of the reasons it can be so difficult to approach someone who is suffering is that it can bring us face to face with our powerlessness to do anything about pain.
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Do Opioids Work For Chronic Pain?
The NPR program Fresh Air broadcast an interview earlier this week with New York Times reporter and author Barry Meier discussing his e-book A World of Hurt: Fixing Pain Medicine’s Biggest Mistake.
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Chinese Finger Traps: What a Novelty Item Can Teach Us about Acceptance
Let’s start with the obvious. In most cases, human beings want to minimize pain and discomfort.
