"Get Out of Your Mind & Into Your Life" by Steven C. Hayes & Spencer Smith

Has anybody read this? I'd love to know what you thought of it.

I first read this about a year ago. Since then, I've been trying to read it over, just to keep going over the concepts. Although I'm still going through my issues (depression and addiction), I've found it to be helpful.

I'm not the type of person that has a favourite movie or musical artist, because I just can't pick one - there's so much good stuff out there! But hands down, this is my favourite book.

For those who haven't read it, I really recommend it! It's different in the sense that it doesn't specifically target any single issue (depression, anxiety, addiction, etc.). Rather, the ideas expressed in this book are broad enough to cover many different issues, including the ones I mentioned.

It's based on ACT (Acceptance & Commitment Therapy).

The three key elements of this therapy are...

Acceptance - It's tough to explain this in one post, but I guess it can be described as taking your life moment by moment and accepting whatever thought, feeling, memory, bodily sensation, or urge you have in that moment. Accepting it doesn't mean you like being miserable or condone the urge to indulge in your addiction. It means that you don't deny what you're experiencing. You accept that you're currently feeling sad or you're currently having cravings.

Mindfulness - I'm assuming you already know about mindfulness, so I won't explain (sorry if you don't, I could explain). The authors suggest a variety of ways to practice mindfulness. I try to do 10 minutes of mindfulness meditation in the day and 10 at night.

Commitment & Values-Based Living - You're basically asked to break your life down into 10 areas....

1) Marriage/Couple/Intimate Relationships
2) Parenting
3) Other Family Relations (your parents, sibling, relatives, etc.)
4) Friendship/Social Relations
5) Career/Employment
6) Education/Training/Personal Growth
7) Recreation/Leisure
8) Spirituality
9) Citizenship
10) Health/Physical Well-Being

Then they ask you to figure out what you want your life to be about in each area and commit to that.

Anyways, just curious to know if anybody else on here has read it.

Thanks for the book recommendation PotentPotables. I haven't read it but will look next time I visit the bookstore. I agree these concepts are very helpful and have spoke about balance and acceptance. You're right acceptance is tricky to explain but know exactly how valuable it is. Its takes a while and the person also has to be at a certain point on their journey to use these tools.

When we're unhappy or in distress or even physical pain - all we want is for it to stop. Sometimes the more we try, the more frustrated we get and we go around in a vicious circle. If we accept the discomfort and calm our minds...we can then see beyond the pain and better able to find a solution. Accepting shouldn't be confused with giving up.

I don't know the book, but here's a review of it on PC:

Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life | Psych Central

Excellent point, Lynn. The book talks about this as well. It refers to our problems as "psychological quicksand". The more you fight, you deeper you sink.

H3rmit - Not too surprised PC reviewed this book. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!

Hello PP,
Thank you for bringing up this book!
The title itself says a lot about it.
I am still to read it, but will definitely post my views when i do.

grey_

Hi grey,

True, I didn't even think to bring that up. It's about just that - getting out of your mind and into your life. Hope it finds you well when you do read it!

Thanks for the post, This sounds like a book I need to read. I will look for it soon.

You're welcome, gma45! Hope it helps you out.

I've been following Hayes' work for a few years now. It feels to me as if he and his colleagues are very much on the right track.

An interesting coincidence (or more likely, not): I felt the same way earlier when I started reading Marsha Linehan, the creator of DBT. It took me a few more years to discover Steven Hayes -- and then to learn that he and Linehan not only were aware of each other's work, but had even edited a book together.

ACT and DBT are both mindfulness-based. My kinda psychology!

I've heard of DBT, but never of Marsha Linehan or the book she wrote with Steven Hayes. Thanks for putting me on to that FooZe!

When I was new here, we discussed Linehan and DBT extensively in this thread (still one of my favorites).

Linehan turned out to be quite a controversial figure in that thread. I don't think it became known till a year or two later that she'd been treated for BPD herself when she was 18 or 19. The Wikipedia article about her now mentions it.

Thanks for the recommendation. I love finding new books on psychology. It's good to know what is actually useful.

You're welcome, Joe-Anna!