Topic > Importance of the concept of acceptance in therapeutic services

The role of acceptance becomes relevant in cognitive behavioral therapy models when highly desired change is difficult, impossible or at least not imminent. Acceptance and mindfulness interventions provide alternative ways to reduce suffering and to help clients let go of their “stuck” situations when change is not immediately available. This article examines the similarities and differences that the concept of acceptance has in the therapeutic models of Ellis, Hayes and Linehan. However, before we begin to discuss the role of acceptance in Albert Ellis's Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), Steven Hayes's Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Marsha Linehan's Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), I believe it is It is essential to first consider the Eastern and Western mythologies that continue to inspire society's philosophy and culture. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay From the East, in Buddha's last years, he gave a sermon on flowers near a pond. His disciples gathered around him in silence as he held up a freshly plucked lotus flower, roots and all, dripping with mud. All but one of his disciples were unsure of the meaning of the Buddha's message, which caused a smile. Buddha recognized that his disciple, Mahakasyapa, understood that flowers not only symbolize the hope of peace and beauty that arise from suffering (e.g., mud and dung), but that they simultaneously embody both form and formlessness. Buddha used the lotus flower as a wonderful reminder that although all forms (e.g., behaviors, emotions, thoughts, people, material possessions) can be appreciated, they are fleeting. Moving west, we find a beautiful young man who was also sitting next to him. a pool of water admiring your reflection. As punishment from the gods for being cruel to those who love him, he remains trapped for eternity in his longing for himself. Eventually Narcissus dies and turns into a small flower that bears his name, Narcissus, commonly known as a daffodil. Some translations of the story suggest that this flower sprouted from the place where Narcissus died, so depending on your view of reincarnation he was transformed into a flower or their presence was a mere coincidence. However, reflecting on this lesson and the gods' curious reward for such self-mastery, one begins to wonder whether Narcissus finally saw through his image into the depths beneath his reflection, which allowed him to give up his image and become something delicate. and beautiful. If so, then, I suppose the lesson from the gods is that we do not have to hold ourselves captive to an image (e.g., a reflection of ourselves) or difficult states (e.g., represented by a pool of water) in order to accept truly ourselves and navigate the world around us. After examining the lessons drawn from the mythological stories, it becomes apparent that REBT, ACT, and DBT combine elements of Eastern and Western philosophy with more traditional elements of Western psychotherapy to help their clients. In Linehan's DBT, Eastern and Western philosophy is evident as the focus of the mindfulness exercises is to accept what is and develop coping strategies with the world as we find it, and not to attempt to change one's image of the world. Linehan (1993a) suggested that mindfulness practices may also be helpful for individuals who are fearful of their emotions. However, it is unclear to what extent philosophyEastern philosophy has had an effect on the concept of acceptance in the therapeutic models developed by Ellis and Hayes, beyond the Buddhist philosophy of acceptance. It seems that the real differences lie in the Western philosophy to which the theorist is attributed. For example, Ellis appreciated Popper's idea that the human mind, both that of the doctor and that of the patient, naturally formulates hypotheses, which led to REBT interventions focused on confirming or rejecting hypotheses with empirical data. This paves the way for accepting things as they are and using logic to evaluate irrational beliefs to facilitate change. Hayes also includes the concept of acceptance; however, it is used differently. Hayes found the work of Stephen Pepper influential as he based ACT on the pragmatic philosophy of functional contextualism. This position emphasizes that the only evidence needed to determine a meaningful conclusion, acceptance, is practicality, or whether an idea works to help you achieve your goals. It becomes apparent that acceptance in ACT focuses primarily on accepting internal stimuli of thoughts and emotions. It is unclear whether Hayes includes acceptance of the external reality of the world or the behavior of others in his definition of acceptance. Hayes' therapeutic position has a conscious posture of openness and acceptance towards psychological events, even if they are formally negative, irrational or psychotic. One is left with the thought that truth is relative and if something works for the individual, then it is true for that person. In addition to raising ethical and moral concerns, this does not validate that a person may have negative experiences and emotions that could be the contributing factor to their current problems. By understanding the fertile ground and contextual behavioral roots from which ACT emerged, Hayes can be seen to promote the pursuit of one's values ​​in order to achieve a meaningful life by focusing on behaviors. ACT focuses on changing overt behaviors and their relationship to cognitions and emotions, rather than on changing the cognitions or emotions themselves. Through ACT, Hayes teaches his patients to stop trying to change their specific cognitions and emotions, to accept these negative internal experiences, and at the same time learn to implement behaviors that will help them achieve their goals and values ​​despite the desire to escape uncomfortable experiences. . His attempt is to teach patients that they can have negative thoughts and emotions and still behave effectively. This position also highlights the influence of behaviorism, in that people's history of exposure to stimuli and reinforcers creates who we are. DBT takes a different approach to cognition. Linehan's approach doesn't rely on cognitive interventions to help clients regulate their emotions, but teaches them self-soothing techniques. These techniques provide a comforting, nurturing, gentle and gentle way to soothe their disturbed strong negative emotions. While this approach is not unique to DBT, it is an important component that helps patients take steps toward change even when they are overwhelmed by their emotions. In other words, acceptance is considered both an outcome and an activity in DBT, which makes it different from both REBT and ACT. As the name of the therapy says, the main dialectic in DBT is between acceptance and change. Linehan believes that to facilitate change, a client must be aware of and able to tolerate the pain associated with the problem. It is also important to note that ACT is also based on the theory ofrelational framework (RFT), which supports language process theory and its dominance over direct experience that promote much human suffering (Hayes & Wilson, 2003). Hayes makes a distinction between acceptance and tolerance, to denote “the active, non-judgmental embrace of experience in the here and now: where acceptance involves the helpless 'exposure' to thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations as they are directly experienced ” (Hayes, 2004, p.21). This provided the foundation for ACT's main goal of creating psychological flexibility. This is achieved not only through the development of acceptance and awareness skills, where deliberate and non-judgmental/non-evaluative engagement with the client's experience in the present moment, but also through engagement and behavior change skills (Dobson,2010). In considering the role that language plays in the well-being of human beings, I considered how British writer Zadie Smith viewed emotions such as shame, pride, and anger and how they influence how people see and they navigate the world. One thing I found profound was that Smith made very similar points to Ellis' position on the importance of emotions. Smith believes that emotions should be considered real even if they seem unfamiliar or foreign to the person. Smith also includes Linehan's view of validation as essential for effective communication in order to take steps toward understanding and change. He goes on to also support Ellis' position on replacing dysfunctional and maladaptive emotions with more adaptive emotions. Because it is more effective than not feeling any emotion, so the more adaptive emotion allows people to “practically function.” For example, Smith believes that shame is a productive emotion that can serve as a catalyst for change, as being shameless is considered dangerous. Smith also supports Hayes' position that language limits a person's ability to accept adversity because of the tendency to turn statements into rules. Smith used the example of Black Lives Matter and how it has a big impact on conservatives in this country as it evokes intense anger because the arrangement of the words suggests that this excludes them indefinitely, rather than seeing the words in a non-discriminatory way. judging and as expressions of experience. This suggests that the various views in which acceptance is included in a therapeutic model all apply to life effectively for the healing process. The similarities that exist between treatment models are more apparent when you can put linguistics aside and understand their purpose and role in treatment. In REBT, Ellis teaches his patients to cultivate three types of unconditional acceptance, namely acceptance of themselves, others and life. Linehan uses the term Radical Acceptance to refer to the same types of acceptance Ellis mentions. Both REBT and DBT help patients learn to replace rigid, maladaptive thoughts with more adaptive ones, thus actively working towards change while simultaneously accepting themselves and their situations as they are. For example, REBT emphasizes that clients accept both the external world and the internal world, while DBT focuses more on accepting one's internal experiences. However, Linehan's therapeutic stance of validating clients' reality is a form of acceptance of the external world. Therefore, their view of accepting external and internal stimuli is the same. The focus on what Ellis calls secondary disturbance and distress tolerance is similar to Linehan's focus on acceptance and tolerance of experiencesinternal such as dysregulated emotions. As both REBT and DBT, patients are learning that experiencing and recognizing the discomfort associated with both experiencing adversity and learning to cope with it are necessary for change and growth to occur. The literature on inclusion and effectiveness of acceptance in CBT is positive. For example, Porada and Milburn conducted an empirical investigation of the relationships between irrationality, self-acceptance, and dispositional forgiveness. They found that unconditional self-acceptance was significantly positively correlated with dispositional forgiveness. Using a regression analysis, they were able to indicate that the irrationality and self-acceptance subtypes predicted dispositional forgiveness of self, others, and situations. Given that there were no significant differences between genders, it appears that having irrational beliefs impedes the forgiveness process, and one's level of self-acceptance predicts one's willingness to forgive. This supports the idea that the inability to accept problems, experiences, situations, etc. prevents change (Dobson, 2010). This can be seen in the therapeutic model developed by Ellis and Linehana due to the inclusion of unconditional and radical acceptance. Given that ACT places an emphasis on acceptance of internal stimuli, it was impressive to see that a study conducted by Karol Wild compared the role of acceptance in REBT and ACT. He found that the outcome of acceptance and emotional level were similar in the two conditions. Wild noted that the ways in which the theorist conceptualizes acceptance and how it relates to cognitive processing are the main differences between the therapeutic models. Differences in Western philosophy and academic affiliations may have been the contributing factor to Wild's observations. Ellis had extensive clinical experience which influenced the development of his theory compared to Linehan and Hayes, for whom they conducted randomized clinical trials on the therapy they were developing. How treatment models emerged is irrelevant to the evidence supported by research. For example, one study evaluated the effectiveness of a DBT skills module, Walking the Middle Path, on adolescents and their families. This mindfulness-based activity, along with the use of validation, was perceived as the most helpful in the DBT therapy model. When therapy models are able to produce positive outcomes when replicated by other therapists with different populations and engagement styles, they provide reassurance to the consumer, both clinician and client, that the model is effective. This is an important element when selecting templates to use with clients. This is a critical and ethical consideration that physicians must keep in mind. So critical that Donald Meichenbaum created a checklist with 19 warning signs that suggest an intervention's efficacy and effectiveness are substantially exaggerated. Although the concept of acceptance was mentioned by Ellis in 1957, it is by no means a new concept, as is the case with awareness. However, there has been growing interest and inclusion of these concepts in therapeutic models. It is important that treatment models focus on effectiveness rather than appealing solely to society as a way to appear progressive. For example, Smith mentioned how millennials and Gen Z verbalize emotions. He noted that this generation's expression of emotions is quite distant from bodily functions due to the high use of technology, however, it is through the acceptance of internal and external stimuli that they find liberation...