(Note: We do not and will not sell or share your email address with any 3rd party)
Sometime in the early eighties a group of experimental psychologists studying the development and use of human language and thinking discovered that, as well as all the many advantages language provides us with as a species, it also has a dark side: An inevitable consequence of the sophisticated processes we employ when we use language is emotional pain.
In what came to be known as Relational Frame Theory, the international group of researchers, led by Steve Hayes, foundation professor at the University of Nevada, found that, in order to use language in the sophisticated way we do, we form a complex web of associations between virtually everything we experience. As a result, when we see a tree, for example, we might be taken off into all sorts of trains of thought and emotions that could make us feel elated or depressed or anything in between, depending on our life experience up to that point. Because off this we have a vast interface with emotional pain through the whole of our lives.
The problem is not this, however. The problem is, in fact, our inevitable desire to solve the "problem" of this pain by finding a way to avoid it. This is known as experiential avoidance and a strong body of research has now found this to be a major cause of mental illness. In other words, the mere fact that we use language makes us all vulnerable to mental illness.
From this discovery has flowed a series of techniques for therapy based on finding ways to help us open up to life and the inevitability of psychological pain more. It's about being present in the moment, accepting - and not suppressing or denying - the variety of thoughts, feelings and emotions that pass through us at any one time, and, through locating our values and what is most important to us, acting in ways that are most consistent with what we want our life to be about.
This array of psychological interventions has come to be known as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. It incorporates a number of ancient practices such as mindfulness and is one of the fastest growing fields in psychology today.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is now in use by a large number of therapists and psychiatrists around the world, in a variety of formats and settings, and many of it's concepts are related to and overlap with Sileotherapy.
You can learn more about Acceptance and Commitment Therapy via the links page here...
ACCEPTANCE & COMMITMENT THERAPY
