Compare and contrast Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Essay

IntroductionThe current essay focuses on both contrary remediation techniques, sufferance and Commitment Therapy and Solution Focused out logical argument Therapy. The initial component of the essay outlines the remedial orientations of both approaches then, the unalike approaches ar related to a case study of a young brothel keeper c exclusivelyed Linda who is seeking counseling due to mental pictures of hopelessness. The essay is then finished with near of the authors someoneal opinions on the two therapeutic approaches.Acceptance and Commitment TherapyWhile Acceptance and Commitment Therapy ( bit) has been in development since the 1980s, it has to a greater extent thanover recently risen to prominence and is some(prenominal)times described as a new wave therapeutic technique. minute is a modern demeanour therapy that uses acceptation and forefrontfulness interventions alongside commitment and behaviour sort strategies to raise psychological flexibility (Sonja , 2011). phone number differs from many modern therapies, in special(a) its approach to dealing with di assaying sensations, imaginations and behaviours. unlike many modern psychotherapies, coiffe does non sprightliness to reduce the severity or frequency of unprecious thoughts and emotions however, it instead focuses on c being plenty to live more recognise lives even in the presence of undesirable thoughts, emotions and sensations. bite is underpinned by a program of research on the nature of human speech and intuitions turn in as Rational Frame Theory (RFT). RFT describes how normal human language performancees dramatic all in all toldy revision the human get it on by resulting in the readiness to readily and frequently evaluate virtually all of its experiences prohibitly (Flaxman and Blackledge, 2010). This literal capacity allows macrocosm to compargon their inclinationl to their flaws. Any discrepancies provoke be interpreted as unworthiness, and this stack be a cause of psychological suffering. RFT has led to the development of an empirically based model of human mental put to work that comprises six interrelated therapeutic processes. These argon acceptance, de conjugation, contact with the present moment, egotism as context, determine, and committed action. While detailed descriptionsof these processes ar beyond the scope of the current essay, a few elements go off be explored.Cognitive concretion is a core process, which can lead to psychological distress. Cognitive fusion refers to when words themselves take on the properties of the things to which they refer (Flaxman and Blackledge, 2010). For example, if someone has gone through and through a violent attack, that single(a) may pretend thoughts just roughly the attack, which can bring up in the present, all the thoughts, emotions and memories associated with that event, even if it was many days ago. In this example the private may start to think that all raf t argon dangerous, and therefore not go out. Thus the process of fusion, by which verbal processes enumerate to excessively or unsuitably influence behavior, which may lead one to be get under ones skin in ship canal that are guided by inflexible verbal networks. fare would look at assisting the individual to not be governed rigidly by the thoughts in their head, working instead to find ways to more effectively act with the directly experienced world, sort of than the verbally constructed one in their mind (Sonja, 2011).Acceptance and commitmentWhile the word acceptance may afford associations for some such(prenominal) as grin and bear it or pass on, the word is used differently in represent. In exploit the word acceptance refers to the willingness to experience distressing emotions and experiences that are encountered in the process of behaving in a way which is consistent with ones prizes (Flaxman and Blackledge, 2010).Commitment refers to a public commitment to a specifi c honor or nurse-consistent behavior, where the individual acts in accordance with their values. For example, a person whose value is to be a caring partner may commit to pickings their partner out for a meal each week.Solution-focused brief therapySolution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) was developed by Steve De Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg in 1986. SFBT believes that change can come from two primarysources, firstly by getting thickenings to discuss their favored future, for example what their lives major agency look like should therapy be successful and, secondly, by detailing their skills and resources that clients have at their disposal (Macdonald, 2011). SFBT bread and butters that language and words are very important, and that helping clients talk about their lives in more efficacious language can lead to affirmatory change. One of the major differences mingled with SFBT and other psychotherapies is that while SFBT ac chouseledged that clients tend to come to therapy to talk about their lines, the SFBT will not encourage them to talk about their problems, but rather to talk about radicals (Rafter, Evans and Iveson, 2012).One of the central assumptions of SFBT is that the client will lease the goals for therapy and that the client themselves have resources which they will use in making changes (Macdonald, 2011). The therapeutic conversation aims at restoring hope and egotism-esteem, while reducing anxiety to a point where people become able to think more widely and fancifully about solutions. SFBT holds that high anxiety can restrict cognition and attention to the surrounding environment and that, by reducing anxiety, it would allow for wider mentation about manageable approaches to problems, as well as mobilizing their existing strengths and resources to citation their desired goals (Rafter et al, 2012).Therapeutic family relationship and goalsThe healer adopts a non-expert or not-knowing stance, in which the individual selects the goa ls and the means to get to the goals. Unrealistic goals may be negotiated with the therapist. Unlike other therapies no homework is given and no advice is given as to what should be done next. As Insoo Kim Berg give tongue to leave no footprints in the clients manners. The word brief in SFBT means that therapy should not last one more school term than is necessary. query shows that the come client utilizes 3 to 6 and a half sessions (Macdonald, 2011).The therapist seeks to keep up respectful curiosity about the clients role. The therapist assumes that change is possible or even inevitable,given the nature of the human existence, this philosophical stand point has its basis in Buddhist teachings, that change is a continual process and stability is only an illusion (Richard, 2011).Assumptions of SFBTDe Shazers 3 rules which underpin SFBT1 If it aint broke dont fix it2 Once you know what works do more of it3 If it doesnt work, dont do it again, do something different (Rafter et al, 2012).All clients are motivated towards something. Clients do not lack motive and it is the therapists job to uncover what they are motivated towards. Attempting to pick up the cause of the problem is not assistive and, in some cases, can be harmful as clients get caught up in describing their situation in negative language. However fixed a problem image may be, the client will be engaging in some of the solution.Lindas presenting problemLinda has come to counseling, as she depends unsure about the heed her animateness is heading. There appears to be a gap between what Linda wanted to be and what she perceives herself to be now. She has described issues with her partner, including arguments over marriage. Linda also describes some negative thoughts about herself such as opinioning hopeless and not rock-steady enough. These thoughts and feeling appears to be very distressing to Linda. Many of these thoughts appear to be related to her new job where is oftentimes feels understaffed. Linda has also give tongue to that she has found social interaction less rewarding recently and describes it as pointless.Linda and ACTOne of the first steps for Linda would be discussing with the ACT therapisther chosen life values, that is the things that are most(prenominal) important in Lindas life. For example, Linda dexterity decide that being very successful in her work is an important value for her. Once the goal is established the therapist and Linda would look to commit to a pattern of behavior that is in line with the goal of being successful at work. Often turning away and cognitive fusion issues can act as a restriction for clients in achieving their goals.Experiential Avoidance, Cognitive Fusions and LindaWithin ACT, the case formulation is that emotional dis reads are the result of unsuccessful attempts to escape from challenging private events that the individual is unwilling to experience (Zettle, 2004). This is also known as experiential turnin g away, which can be defined as the process by which individuals engage in strategies designed to alter the frequency or experience of private events, such as thoughts and feelings, memories or bodily sensations (Sonja, 2011). For example, Linda describes herself as conservative and not frequently of a risk taker up to this point in her life Linda has taken jobs that are well within her comfort zone.As such, Linda may have avoided challenging work environments and avoided the pressure and criticism that comes along with these side of meats. The ACT therapist would focus on a course of work with Linda encouraging her to experience the full spectrum of thoughts, feelings and emotions so she does not feel the need to avoid or escape (Sonja, 2011). In this case asking Linda to experience the thought/feeling that she is sometimes not good enough. By facing this thought Linda may become more comfortable with it, and be able to last even in the presence of these distressing thoughts.As experiential avoidance is seen as the underlying cause to psychological distress it stands to priming coat that the solution would lie in engaging clients in the situations they find difficult. If we accept that life will inevitably have psychologically distressful events and that often these events cannot be avoided, then therapy should help clients accept the distress that arises during life. At the core of RFTs account of language and cognitions is the assumption that the kind of abstract, evaluative wordswe vie with that claim to capture reality, in fact cannot. Thus, the acceptance part of ACT is not an acceptance of how an individually literally perceives it, but rather the acceptance of his experience as it is, and not how his mind says it is.In this instance ACT would look to reduce the hold of language on the situation. Linda may return the statement Im hopeless, ACT would look to reframe this to Im having thoughts that Im hopeless rather than Im hopeless. Reframing the statement in this way would move Linda away from defining herself as being hopeless to defining herself as a person who sometimes feels hopeless this would hopefully lessen the psychological distress and help Linda be more able to move towards her chosen goals.Linda and SFBTSFBT holds that there are two powerful tools to assisting recovery. The first, that positive talk about an individuals preferred future will result in positive change and secondly, identifying and highlighting the resources an individual already has at their disposal will amend allow the individuals to use those resources. The SFBT therapist may ask Linda What are your beaver hopes for therapy? thence encouraging problem free talk which is used to produce the therapeutic alliance (Rafter et al, 2012). Problem free talk can often reduce anxiety and guilt if the therapist enquires about their success and enkindle as well as the problem. For example Linda has stated that there is a gap between how she is and how she wants to be, the SFBT therapist may ask Can you reassure me about a time when your actual self and ideal self were closer together?Perhaps one of the most famous elements of SFBT is the miracle perplexity as such it is worth looking at the miracle question in relation to Linda. The miracle question is designed to bring a whiz of optimism and play, allowing creative thinking to emerge and confirming the goals already identified at the starting (Richard, 2011). The miracle question is designed to encourage the client to talk about the effectiveness positive results of successful sermon. The miracle question is as followsIm spillage to ask you a kind of strange question now. Suppose pause you go to bed and to sleep tonight as usual pause and while you are asleep a miracle happens pause and the problem that bought you here today look round all present is solved pause. But you are asleep and dont know that it has been solved pause. What will be the first small sign that thi s miracle has happened and that the problem is solved?When asked the miracle question Linda would be prompted to describe feelings, thoughts or emotions which she wants to have in the future. She may answer well I guess I might feel more confident in my abilities, I may be more comfortable with who I am and I wouldnt feel so anxious. The SFBT therapist would then seek to expand on this answer by asking what else? while always focussing on the positive elements of the answers. In the above example we see that Linda says I wouldnt feel so anxious the SFBT therapist may suffice Well you say you wouldnt feel anxious, so what would you feel? to which Linda would hopefully respond with something positive Id feel calm and satisfied.ACT vs. SFBTThe power of languageBoth ACT and SFBT hold language as a powerful influence on human distress. ACT argues that as human language has become more complex it has also presented humans with new challenges. Specifically how we use language to relate our own self to other people/stimuli. People learn arbitrary ways of evaluating themselves and their experiences in culturally agreed upon ways, for example having no partner means that you are undesirable, being inadequate is bad and people hold these statements as rules or absolute truths (Sonja, 2011). Take, for example, the statement being inadequate is bad this could lead an individual who has been inadequate to conclude that they themselves are bad, the individual may arrive at this conclusion without acknowledging the subjective and incomplete nature of the statement being inadequate is bad. Humans, according to ACT, come to place too muchvalue in the accuracy of language. Indeed language holds so much power that what is verbally believed is consumed as solid fact (Sonja, 2011).SFBT focuses on a different effect of language on the human condition. While ACT states that its how we relate language to ambiguous stimuli which is the cause of psychological distress, SFBT focus on the use of problem free talk to improve an individuals psychological distress. SFBT holds that talk of the town about solutions rather than the problem will in itself allow for positive change in an individuals life. The idea being that time is spent public lecture about individuals strengths, rather than their problems, will reduce stress. When stress is reduced SFBT holds that clients are more able to access solutions for their problems, as when clients are anxious they have restricted cognitions.The therapeutic relationshipStudies have indicated that the therapeutic alliance has a significant impact on the outcome of treatment (Lambert and Barley, 2002). ACT and SFBT share some similar ideas around what the therapeutic relationship should look like. Both approaches believe that the therapist should take a not-knowing position which puts the therapist in the same boat as the client. In ACT the therapist acknowledges that they themselves are human and struggle as well and thus th ey should be able to apply ACT principals to their own experiences in order to respond consistently and coherently with the model and to form an authentic relationship. If the therapist does not apply the principal to their life in and out of the session they may come across as disingenuous (Sonja, 2011).While ACT requires the therapist to buy into the principles they are preaching, SFBT requires the therapist to assume that change is possible and even inevitable, given the nature of human existence. The therapist needs to hold genuine optimism about the possibility of recovery. An SFBT Therapist also uses language matching or language tracking as a means to construction a solid therapeutic relationship. Language matching refers to when the therapist uses the clients word for events and situations. If possible thetherapist should use words or phrases the client uses in every statement. It is argued that renaming something amounts to contradicting the clients, which may not be helpf ul in building relationships.Personal preferenceBoth ACT and SFBT have strong and affective therapeutic intervention styles. In my opinion, it is ACTs unique approach to psychological distress that stands out as the most powerful. The idea that part of being human involves times of psychological distress resonates strongly with my own set of ideas. Indeed trying to restrict harsh psychological experiences seems in some ways to be unnatural, and against what it is to be human. luck people to live and function in the presence of distressing emotions seems a more worthwhile pursuit than attempting to eliminate or restrict mortifying experiences. In modern society there is an obsession with the idea that people should be happy all the time and this creates a situation whereby people who do not feel happy feel bad about not being happy and thus compound their misery.The central idea of SFBT, that the therapeutic session should be centered on solutions rather than the problems is a cle ver tweak on the traditional approach to therapy. In my opinion, it makes sense to spend more time lecture about what resources an individual might have and engaging in positive speak rather than talking at length about what is going wrong. Psychodynamic therapists have long said if you name an emotion in a session, then soon that emotion will appear, often accompanied by memories and experiences connected to it, therefore it stands to reason that if the problem is discussed at length this will be accompanied by the negative thoughts and emotions experienced with it, equally if the solution is discussed the thoughts and emotions may be more positive and foster hope. I feel that this technique could be substantially amalgamated into other therapeutic frameworks. It would also be personally more enjoyable to the therapist to be discussing positive solutions, rather than spending all the time listening to problems.ConclusionBoth ACT and SFBT offer a unique take of traditional psychot herapies. ACT helps individuals in achieving their chosen life goals even in the face of psychological distress and difficulties, while SFBT approaches psychological distress in a unique way by focusing less on the distress itself but rather the solutions and resources the individual has functional to themselves. For Linda, ACT would entail some exposure of her fears of criticism, in order for her to procure her goal of captain success, ACT would help her deal with the inevitable professional criticism which occurs in high pressure jobs. While SFBT would lessen Lindas anxieties with solution focused talk, which in turn would mean that Linda could more affectively prize her personal resources and apply them to achieving her goals.ReferencesBatten, Sonja V. (2011). Essentials of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Retrieved from http//www.eblib.comCorsini, Raymon., Wedding, Danny. (2014). Current Psychotherapies. United States of the States Brooks/Cole.Flaxman, Paul E. Blackledge, J.T. 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