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Three Kinds of “Freeze” Response
If you have been reading much about PTSD or trauma, you have probably come across the term: Fight, Flight, Freeze (well, there’s a 4th F, Fawn and I’ll talk about that at another time.) When we’re going along with our lives and all of the sudden something happens, like we’re taking a walk in the woods and we see motion in the leaves and think, “SNAKE” before we actually enter fight or flight or back to enjoyment because you realize it’s just a little black snake, innocuous. There is actually a moment of “freeze” that we go through – things tense up and our body revs up getting ready to…
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ACT, Addiction, Anxiety, Coping Skills, Depression, Mindfulness, Postnatal, Pregnancy, Relationships, Trauma
FACE COVID – An ACT Approach
I thought this was an incredibly helpful video that incorporates a number of key concepts of Acceptance and Attachment Therapy, ACT. Being mindful of what’s going on inside you now, committed action, being open to all the emotions that may rise up when we think and feel our thoughts about how COVID has and is affecting our lives, values – look for ways to sprinkle values throughout your day so that in spite of COVID, we are still focused on living our lives with meaning and purpose. If you think that you could benefit from individualized counseling using ACT, or you find that COVID has triggered some old traumas or is…
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More about Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Handling Emotions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z29ptSuoWRc I love Acceptance and Commitment Therapy because it is filled with metaphors instead of worksheets. For the way my brain works, a metaphor “sticks” and I’m much likely to access a positive coping skill if I’ve learned it as a metaphor. So, how many times have you found yourself filled to the top with thoughts and feelings that you experience as negative? And the harder you try to avoid them, stuff them down, distract yourself from the the more you are entangled in them? This short video illustrates another option to handling those thoughts and emotions. In ACT it’s called defusion and uses mindfulness to simply notice the thoughts…
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Struggling with anxiety, depression or other “negative” emotions and disorders
I use Acceptance and Commitment Therapy with a lot of my clients who struggle with issues like depression, anxiety, OCD, social phobia and more. ACT gives us a path to help you move out of a stuck place into a life filled with meaning and purpose. This short little video demonstrates a technique used in ACT to “defuse” from the cycle of negative emotions that we can find ourselves caught in. We may notice that we’re having that familiar feeling of depression. As soon as we notice it, something like a switch goes off and we get all tangled up with our depression. We may then begin to feel angry that…
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What does it mean to be values driven?
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy – ACT has six main components. I find that I begin using ACT with clients on the hub of “values.” Why do I find this a good place to start? Well, for me, beginning with “values” leads quite easily then to setting goals, referred to in ACT as “committed action” and then examining the limiting thoughts “fusion” that stop us from reaching our goals. Additionally we then explore “acceptance” as a way to counter “experiential avoidance”. We learn to be present in the moment, and to see life from an observer point of view, “self as context.” I’ll write another post about Acceptance and Commitment Therapy…
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More about Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, ACT involves six processes: Values Committed Action Cognitive Defusion Being Present Self as Context Acceptance For the official description of these processes, Contextual Science is the place to go. ACT uses a number of metaphors to explain and describe and work through these six processes. So, I’m going to give you some examples to illustrate what this all means. I’ve described “Values” in another post, but will briefly discuss it hear again. More to come…
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Grounding Box
Physical Grounding Box I’m going to give you two suggestions, a physical grounding box and a virtual grounding box. With a physical grounding box, find a box to contain items like this: small smooth rocks textured fabrics small sculptures fidget toys like fidget spinners, blocks, magnetic sculptures therapuetic putty or play dough or silly putty squishy ball squishy string essential oils like peppermint or lemon Include pictures – pets, safe places, friends Feel free to bring the box with you to in person sessions; and even more importantly, have the box with you for virtual sessions. Virtual Grounding Box music calming photos of the beach or nature photos of you…
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Stress Reduction Techniques
Here are a few of my stress reduction techniques – of note… I don’t include alcohol :)!!! 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 – Notice 5 things you can see, 4 things you can feel, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell, 1 thing you can taste. If you need a printable document, click the link. Notice 5 things that are red or some other color in your room, or 5 things that are circle or rectangles Do square breathing – breathe in for 4, hold for 4, breathe out for 4, hold for 4 Do 7/11 breathing – breath in for 7 and out for 11 Notice…
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What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: ACT?
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: ACT (pronounced like the word “act” is a cognitive behavioral approach of therapy. I will write more about why I use ACT in working with clients. More to come…