Author name: Steve Hayes

Moving Toward Compassion in the Psychological Sciences

Uncategorized /

We practice a kind of hypocrisy in the behavioral health area that’s not only embarrassing but counterproductive. Much of modern evidence-based psychotherapy has focused on the use of concepts like mindfulness, acceptance, and compassion. This trend stretches across many different psychological modalities from the mindfulness-based cognitive therapies, to dialectical behavior therapy, to compassion focused therapy, […]

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Thriving: What Kind of Psychotherapy Naturally Produces It?

Acceptance, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, ACT, Depression, Emotion, Evidence-Based Psychotherapy, Happiness, Human Suffering, Mindfulness, psychological flexibility, Values /

Just because you’re not sick, doesn’t mean you’re healthy. We are used to that idea in physical health. Being cancer free is not the same as being fit—you have to take the steps needed to develop your physical strength, endurance, and flexibility. Not having the flu is great, but vigor depends on eating well, exercising,

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Is Self-Compassion More Important Than Self-Esteem?

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, ACT, Child Development, Evidence-Based Psychotherapy, Happiness, Human Suffering, Relationships, Self-as-Context /

Is it important to love yourself? It seems that depends on how you do it. Few concepts in popular psychology have gotten more attention over the last few decades than self-esteem and its importance in life success and long-term mental health. Of course, much of this discussion has focused on young people, and how families,

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Why Our National Conversation is Wrong and What to Do about It

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, ACT, Avoidance, Cognitive Defusion, Denial, Emotion, Evidence-Based Psychotherapy, Guilt, Present Moment, Relationships, Values /

In the wake of the NFL domestic violence scandal the media has exploded with questions about what we need to do governmentally, institutionally, and politically to better manage partner abuse. Some have called the current rash of stories a “national teaching moment”—an opportunity for us to wake up to the prevalence and horror of domestic

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Behavioral Science and Local Empowerment Are Needed to Help Solve the Ebola Crisis

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, ACT, Avoidance, Biographical Sketch, Clinicians, Cognitive Defusion, Evidence-Based Psychotherapy, Health, Human Beings, Human Suffering, Pain, Relationships, Uncategorized, Values /

The West African Ebola crisis is holding up a mirror to the world, and what it is reflecting back is worrisome. I was listening to the news reporting yesterday with a mixture of interest and horror. The horror was not just about what is going on in these West African countries. It was the horror

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Kissing the Banana Trunk

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, ACT, Biographical Sketch, Health, Human Beings, Human Suffering, Spirituality, Symbolic Thought, Values /

Will You Commit and Act in the Fight Against Ebola? Among the problems countries like Sierra Leone face in the battle against Ebola, two strike the American mind as all but incomprehensible: 1.) the widespread skepticism that the disease actually exists and 2.) burial practices that to our eyes are not only clear disease vectors

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Ferguson, Beheadings, and the Psychological Challenge of Living in the Modern World

Evolutionary Psychology, Human Beings, Human Suffering, Relationships /

The human mind did not evolve for the world we live in. Over the last twenty-four hours I’ve gazed at the image of a reporter about to be beheaded. Moments later in the same newscast I watched a mother and father express their rage, sadness, and dismay when their teenage boy was shot to death

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Mindfulness and Acceptance in Evidence-Based Psychotherapy

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, ACT, Blog, Clinical Researchers, Clinicians, Evidence-Based Psychotherapy /

Only a small percentage of psychotherapy services in the United States are tightly linked to existing scientific knowledge. It is a bit strange if you think of it. Would anyone want surgery that was not based on a current scientific understanding of the body? Why should the mind and behavior be any different?

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