by Steve Hayes | Sep 30, 2021 | Human Beings, Language and Cognition, Self-as-Context
In the fall of 2005, magician Derren Brown performed a peculiar experiment. He asked a group of volunteers for their birthdays, and subsequently gave each of them an individualized astrology reading. Without having ever met any of them, Brown would tell them the most...
by Steve Hayes | Aug 4, 2021 | Human Beings, psychological flexibility
Simone Biles is an exceptional athlete of unreal proportions. Now with 32 Olympic and World championship medals under her belt, she is widely considered to be one of the greatest gymnasts of all time. I think her performance at the Tokyo Olympics may leave a lasting...
by Steve Hayes | May 13, 2021 | Evidence-Based Psychotherapy, Human Beings
The world is in the middle of chaotic change. We all feel it. The normative concepts we have lived inside for over a century are breaking down, and we are less and less willing to twist ourselves into pretzels to make them fit. “Have it your way” might have started...
by Steve Hayes | Oct 6, 2014 | 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...
by Steve Hayes | Sep 26, 2014 | 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...
by Steve Hayes | Aug 25, 2014 | 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...