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| Acknowledgments | |
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| Introduction | |
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| ACT: What It Is and How It Can Help You | |
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| Suffering: Psychological Quicksand | |
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| The Ubiquity of Human Suffering | |
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| Mindfulness, Acceptance, and Values | |
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| Commitment and Values-Based Living | |
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| Human Suffering | |
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| Human Suffering Is Universal | |
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| Exercise: Your Suffering Inventory | |
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| The Problem with Pain | |
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| Exercise: The Pain is Gone, Now What? | |
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| The Problem with Pain: Revisited | |
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| Living a Valued Life: An Alternative | |
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| Why Language Leads to Suffering | |
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| The Nature of Human Language | |
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| Exercise: Relate Anything to Anything Else | |
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| Exercise: A Screw, a Toothbrush, and a Lighter | |
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| Why Language Creates Suffering | |
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| Exercise: A Yellow Jeep | |
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| Exercise: Don't Think About Your Thought | |
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| What You've Been Doing | |
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| Exercise: The Coping Strategies Worksheet | |
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| The Problem with Getting Rid of Things-Squared | |
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| Experiential Avoidance | |
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| The Mind-Train | |
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| The Pull of Avoidance | |
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| Why We Do What Can't Work | |
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| Accepting the Possibility That Experiential Avoidance Can't Work | |
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| So, What Are You Supposed to Do? | |
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| Exercise: The Blame Game | |
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| Exercise: Judging Your Own Experience: Examining What Works | |
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| Moving On | |
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| Exercise: What Are You Feeling and Thinking Now? | |
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| Letting Go | |
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| If You're Not Willing to Have It, You Will | |
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| Acceptance and Willingness | |
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| Exercise: Why Willingness? | |
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| Willingness and Distress | |
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| Exercise: Being Willingly Out of Breath | |
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| The "Willingness to Change" Question | |
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| The Trouble with Thoughts | |
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| Thought Production | |
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| Exercise: What Are You Thinking Right Now? | |
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| Why Thinking Has Such an Impact | |
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| Exercise: Your Daily Pain Diary | |
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| Looking at Your Thoughts Rather Than from Your Thoughts | |
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| The Mind-Train | |
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| Exercise: Watching the Mind-Train | |
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| Having a Thought Versus Buying a Thought | |
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| Cognitive Defusion: Separating Your Thoughts from Their Referents | |
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| Exercise: Say the Word "Milk" as Fast as You Can | |
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| Exercise: Labeling Your Thoughts | |
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| Exercise: Floating Leaves on a Moving Stream | |
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| Exercise: Describing Thoughts and Feelings | |
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| Exercise: Exploring the Difference Between Descriptions and Evaluations | |
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| Creating Your Own Cognitive Defusion Techniques | |
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| If I'm Not My Thoughts, Then Who Am I? | |
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| Considering Your Self-Conceptualizations | |
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| The Three Senses of Self | |
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| Exercise: Retelling Your Own Story | |
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| Being the Observing Self | |
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| Exercise: Experientially, I'm Not That | |
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| Getting Started | |
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| Exercise: Tracking Your Thoughts in Time | |
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| Taking the Next Step | |
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| Mindfulness | |
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| Daily Practice | |
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| The Practice | |
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| Exercise: Be Where You Are | |
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| Exercise: Silent Walking | |
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| Exercise: Cubbyholing | |
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| Exercise: Eating Raisins | |
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| Exercise: Drinking Tea | |
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| Exercise: Eating Mindfully | |
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| Exercise: Listening to Classical Music | |
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| Exercise: Be Mindful of Your Feet While You Read This | |
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| Exercise: Just Sitting | |
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| Mindfulness in Context | |
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| What Willingness Is and Is Not | |
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| What Needs to Be Accepted? | |
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| Exercise: What Needs to Be Accepted | |
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| The Goal of Willingness | |
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| Willingness: Learning How to Jump | |
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| The Willingness Scale | |
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| Taking a Jump | |
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| Exercise: Willingness Scale Worksheet | |
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| Using Your Skills and Learning Some New Ones | |
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| Exercise: Physicalizing | |
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| Exercise: Giving Your Target a Form | |
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| Exercise: The Tin-Can Monster | |
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| Exercise: Acceptance in Real-Time | |
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| What Are Values? | |
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| Values as Chosen Life Directions | |
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| What Values Are and Are Not | |
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| Choosing Your Values | |
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| The Masters You Serve | |
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| Exercise: Attending Your Own Funeral | |
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| Taking It a Step Further: Ten Valued Domains | |
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| Ranking and Testing Your Values | |
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| Committed Action | |
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| Committing to Doing It | |
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| Taking Bold Steps | |
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| Exercise: Goals Worksheet | |
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| Exercise: Making Goals Happen Through Action | |
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| Exercise: Expected Barriers | |
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| Many Maps for Different Journeys | |
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| Building Patterns of Effective Action | |
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| Whose Life Is It Anyway? | |
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| Conclusion: The Choice to Live a Vital Life | |
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| The Values and Data Underlying ACT | |
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| References | |