The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Depression: Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

There are hundreds of books that will try to help you overcome or put an end to depression. But what if you could use your depression to change your life for the better? Your symptoms may be signals that something in your life needs to change. Learning to understand and interpret these signals is much more important than ignoring or avoiding them-approaches that only make the situation worse. This workbook uses techniques from acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to offer a new treatment plan for depression that will help you live a productive life by accepting your feelings instead of fruitlessly trying to avoid them.

The Mindfulness & Acceptance Workbook for Depression will show you, step-by-step, how to stop this cycle, feel more energized, and involve yourself in pleasurable and fulfilling activities that will help you work through, rather than avoid, aspects of your life that are depressing you. Use the techniques in this book to evaluate your own depression and create a personalized treatment plan. You'll enrich your total life experience by focusing your energy not on fighting depression, but on living the life you want.

Includes a CD.

This book has been awarded The Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Self-Help Seal of Merit — an award bestowed on outstanding self-help books that are consistent with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) principles and that incorporate scientifically tested strategies for overcoming mental health difficulties. Used alone or in conjunction with therapy, our books offer powerful tools readers can use to jump-start changes in their lives.

From Kirk Strosahl, cofounder of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Depression develops the revolutionary techniques of this new approach into a clear, step-by-step strategy you can use to live a rich and meaningful life with depression.

Kirk D. Strosahl, Ph.D., is cofounder of acceptance and commitment therapy and is an internationally known expert on the management of depression and suicidal behavior. Strosahl has practiced as a psychologist for more than twenty-six years, working with depressed patients in both mental health and primary care settings.

Patricia J. Robinson, Ph.D., has devoted her career the past twenty-six years to developing, implementing, evaluating, and refining treatments for depression in settings where most people seek help-schools and primary care clinics. She has a passion for assisting people of all ages and life circumstances achieve optimal health.