Synopses & Reviews
Adolescents face unique pressures and worries. Will they pass high school? Should they go to college? Will they find love? And what ways do they want to act in the world? The uncertainty surrounding the future can be overwhelming. Sadly, and all too often, if things don’t go smoothly, adolescents will begin labeling themselves as losers, unpopular, unattractive, weird, or dumb. And, let’s not forget the ubiquitous ‘not good enough’ story that often begins during these formative years. These labels are often carried forward throughout life. So what can you do, now, to help lighten this lifelong burden?
The Thriving Adolescent offers teachers, counselors, and mental health professionals powerful techniques for working with adolescents. Based in proven- effective acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), the skills and tips outlined in this book will help adolescents and teens manage difficult emotions, connect with their values, achieve mindfulness and vitality, and develop positive relationships with friends and family. The evidence-based practices in this book focus on developing a strong sense of self, and will give adolescents the confidence they need to make that difficult transition into adulthood.
Whether it’s school, family, or friend related, adolescents experience a profound level of stress, and often they lack the psychological tools to deal with stress in productive ways. The skills we impart to them now will help set the stage for a happy, healthy adulthood. If you work with adolescents or teens, this is a must-have addition to your professional library.
Review
“This intensely practical book offers a cutting-edge evidence-based framework for mental health professionals seeking to more effectively address the myriad interpersonal problems that individuals seeking psychotherapy face in their daily lives. It is the first book of its type to bridge the more cognitive notions of schemas with newer mindfulness and acceptance-based behavior therapies such as acceptance and commitment therapy. The authors know both worlds intimately, and offer a straightforward approach that gets to the heart of patterns of unhelpful interpersonal behavior that ultimately damage significant social bonds. The book is full of practical exercises, worksheets, and even a full-length protocol outlining its use in either an individual or group therapy format. This book is a must-read for any mental health practitioner who takes seriously the significant social and interpersonal problems faced by those they serve.”
—John P. Forsyth, PhD, professor of psychology at University at Albany, SUNY, and director of its anxiety disorders research program
Review
“Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Interpersonal Problems is a user-friendly guide to helping your clients employ ACT to manage the pain and suffering caused by unhelpful schemas that contribute to the relationship distress that often accompanies the personal disorders they bring to their sessions with you. This book will guide you through a step-by-step process for helping your clients accept schema-related pain in the service of values-based interpersonal behavior. Highly recommended.”
—Richard Blonna, EdD, author of Stress Less, Live More
Review
“Interpersonal difficulties are a common focus of clinical work, either as a primary presenting problem or one that further complicates other issues that clients bring with them to therapy. This book skillfully integrates schema theory with acceptance and commitment therapy. Matthew McKay, Avigail Lev, and Michelle Skeen guide the reader through a systematic program emphasizing mindfulness and compassionate acceptance of thoughts, feelings, and urges that typically result in interpersonal difficulties, along with the clarification of personal values to inform alternative ways of relating to others. Numerous handouts and forms throughout, as well as an appendix with a session-by-session protocol, provide an easy-to-follow set of empirically-supported guidelines. This book should be a welcome addition to the library of all mental health professionals who struggle in working with clients who find their relationships with loved ones, friends, and coworkers more often a source of psychological pain than fulfillment.”
—Robert D. Zettle, PhD, professor of psychology at Wichita State University and the author of ACT for Depression
Review
“Mental health professionals interested in new horizons in evidence-based treatments will find this book to be a valuable first step in the direction of integrating acceptance and commitment therapy into their work. This book offers a unique journey through the ACT material by integrating the vernacular of traditional cognitive behavior therapy. The authors dare ACT therapists to broaden the scope of their conceptualizations while challenging CBT therapists to apply mindfulness and acceptance to their toolbox of interventions.”
—D.J. Moran, PhD, BCBA-D, founder of Pickslyde Consulting and the MidAmerican Psychological Institute
Review
“While chronic interpersonal problems are often the most difficult to address clinically, this book provides new hope for the clinician. It is simple, practical, sound, and evidence-based.”
—Kirk Strosahl, PhD, co-founder of acceptance and commitment therapy and coauthor of The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Depression and Brief Interventions for Radical Change
Review
“Over the years, different therapy approaches have attempted to help clients struggling with interpersonal problems. Despite showing some benefits, none of these approaches made a significant difference in these clients’ lives. Finally, ACT for Interpersonal Disorders offers readers an alternative that is not only innovative, but also based in research. This book sets a gold standard for how to integrate ACT and schema therapy and shows us step by step how to make real changes in the lives of clients struggling with their relationship to their own pain and relationships with the people they care about.”
—Patricia Zurita Ona, PsyD, clinical supervisor at the Berkeley Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Clinic and the Wright Institute’s behavioral medicine training program
Review
“McKay, Lev, and Skeen present a successful, innovative combination of ACT and a schema-based approach to help clients with interpersonal relationship problems gain more behavioral flexibility and move beyond inflexible patterns of relating. Rather than changing dysfunctional schemas or core beliefs, the authors teach readers in clear, practical steps how to help clients alter the way they relate to their thoughts so that they can choose different responses based on their chosen values. The book is based on long-term clinical and research experience that shows how clients gain greater psychological flexibility through building acceptance and defusing from unhelpful thoughts, emotions, and beliefs—including schemas. With its many worksheets and exercises, as well as a session-by-session treatment outline, this book is a great resource for any therapist who wants to help clients develop less conflict-filled, richer, and more fulfilling life.”
—Georg Eifert, PhD, professor emeritus of psychology at Chapman University
Review
“Relying on a storytelling clinical voice, the authors articulate an innovative approach to applying ACT technology to interpersonal problems using the language of schemas (e.g., abandonment, failure) as a heuristic to identify historic thoughts, feelings, and action urges that are sources of pain and unlikely to go away. The book describes a step-by-step treatment approach wherein the clients learn to recognize old moves to avoid the emotional pain associated with these schemas and discover how to stop these behaviors that create unnecessary interpersonal suffering. It includes clear descriptions of interventions, with samples of therapist-client dialogue and handouts to use with clients. The book is based on a small randomized controlled trial in a group setting and indeed, it includes that protocol in one of the appendices; however, the material presented in this book could easily be utilized in individual and couples therapy, as well.”
—Jacqueline Pistorello, PhD, coauthor of Finding Life Beyond Trauma
Review
With wisdom, kindness, and inspiring clarity born from years of mindful living and teaching mindfulness, Amy Saltzman guides us through the research-proven, practical steps of how to help young people learn the fundamentals of resilience, focus, and compassion. Science-supported, clinically-sound, and educationally brilliant, this book will provide essential tools for all who wish to learn from a master about how children and adolescents can discover
A Still Quiet Place, a source of emotional and social intelligence and a lifelong center of inner peace.”
Daniel J. Siegel, MD, author of Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain and Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation; clinical professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine; and codirector of the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center
Review
With great clarity and uncommon attention to detail, Amy Saltzman gives us much more than a first-rate mindfulness program.
A Still Quiet Place is a portrait of a master teacher at work.”
Richard Brady, MS, cofounder and president of the Mindfulness in Education Network and coauthor of Tuning In: Mindfulness in Teaching and Learning
Review
Amy Saltzman has produced a highly illuminative and extremely practical mindfulness-based program for children and adolescents.
A Still Quiet Place provides step-by-step instructions for facilitators to administer the program in whole or in part. It is a must-have for mental health professionals, educators, and parents wishing to teach children and adolescents mindfulness and social and emotional learning. Highly recommended!”
Sam Himelstein, PhD, director of the Mind Body Awareness Project and author of A Mindfulness-Based Approach to Working with High-Risk Adolescents
Review
Amy Saltzman's authoritative book provides the wisdom and building blocks you'll need to share mindfulness with children and teens. Far more than a workbook, it's a curriculum that you can pick up and use to teach a class, written by someone who has been instrumental in the movement to bring mindfulness to youth since its inception.”
Susan Kaiser Greenland, JD, author of The Mindful Child
Review
A Still Quiet Place is exactly the guide that parents and professionals have been waiting for to take the mystery out of the practice of mindfulness. We all know that our children are too stressed, and we want it to change.
A Still Quiet Place is an essential antidote and accompaniment for the stressed lives that our children lead today. This crystal-clear program teaches children exactly how to bring thoughtful, calming awareness to their day-to-day experiences and struggles, not only reducing pressure and strain but enhancing their quality of life. Filled with child-friendly explanations and exercises, every child will benefit from finding their still quiet place within. Amy Saltzman is the perfect guide to lead them there.”
Tamar Chansky, PhD, author of Freeing Your Child from Anxiety: Powerful, Practical Solutions to Overcome Your Child's Fears, Worries, and Phobias
Review
In this clear and compassionate guide, Amy Saltzman offers a joyous path for leading children to peace and self-discovery through mindfulness.”
Christopher Willard, PsyD, author of Child's Mind
Review
Amy Saltzman makes teaching mindfulness widely accessible with this wonderful book. It is a brilliant distillation of years of experience teaching mindfulness to children kindergarten through twelfth grade. Saltzmans passion and experience flow through these pages.
A Still Quiet Place is a must-read for anyone who desires teaching valuable life skills. It is one of the best and most complete books on teaching mindfulness that Ive read.”
Brian Despard, author of You Are Not Your Thoughts: Mindfulness for Children of All Ages
Review
What our busy modern world needs is for more adults to introduce more children to
A Still Quiet Place. Finally, we have a step-by-step guide to building vital skills for children like kindness, resilience, attention, and stress management. Saltzman offers practical, everyday guidance to support children of any age and has created an irreplaceable resource in the field.”
Mark Bertin, MD, developmental pediatrician and author of The Family ADHD Solution. Learn more at www.developmentaldoctor.com.
Review
A Still Quiet Place is a smart, thoughtful, and encouraging guide to bringing mindfulness to children. Amys warmth and experience shine through her words, and her invitation to explore the world with kindness and curiosity is exactly what I would want for my own daughter. My teaching, and my parenting, will be better for having read this book.”
Jennifer Cohen Harper, author of Little Flower Yoga for Kids
In a time when it's needed more than ever, Amy Saltzman delivers an effective program that not only offers to ease the stress and emotional struggles of our children, but also provides a recipe to begin healing our world.”
Elisha Goldstein, PhD, author of The Now Effect and coauthor of A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook
Review
‘This book is a fantastic resource, full of wisdom, compassion, and extremely practical tools for helping teenagers thrive in the face of life’s challenges. It is not only essential reading for teenagers, but also for parents, teachers, and any therapists or counselors who work with this age group.”
—Russ Harris, author of The Happiness Trap and The Reality Slap
Review
“In Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life for Teens, Joseph V. Ciarrochi, Louise Hayes, and Ann Bailey provide teenagers with access to the powerful principles of acceptance and commitment therapy. The lessons are broadly applicable to any number of struggles a teen might have. Teens can't help but recognize their own struggles in the stories told and dare to pursue their own hopes in the exercises offered. Perhaps most importantly, in the midst of a stage when many peoples’ thoughts and feelings isolate them from the lives they care about, these authors communicate clearly that the readers are not alone and don’t have to struggle. I believe this book will be an invaluable resource for any therapist, parent, family member, or friend who wants to help a teen they care about.”
—Emily K. Sandoz, PhD, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Review
“It’s hard being a human, and it’s not easier being a teenager. Ciarrochi, Hayes, and Bailey clearly know what they’re talking about from their own experiences and from working with youths who struggle. This is a book that should have been written long ago. I wish someone had given it to me when I was a teenager.”
—Rikard K. Wicksell, PhD, licensed clinical psychologist and a clinical researcher at Karolinska University Hospital and the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden
Review
“An extraordinary resource for teens and adolescents who are struggling with everything from the trials of being a teenager to more serious problems. The authors provide an engaging, compassionate, and understandable road map with practical suggestions and exercises that any teen will want to explore. It is an amazing gift to have such a useful book to recommend to teens and their families.”
—Jennifer Gregg, PhD, associate professor at San Jose State University and coauthor of The Diabetes Lifestyle Book
Review
Get Out Of Your Mind and Into Your Life for Teens is an extraordinary guide for teenagers pursuing extraordinary lives. Ciarrochi, Hayes, and Bailey offer practical exercises and introduce us to characters who use bold warrior skills to pursue more intentional and meaningful lives. In so doing, they lessen the stigma most teens feel when they struggle with common problems, such as rumors, loneliness, and harsh criticism from others. My hope for this book is that it will become a textbook for high school and college students all over the world.”
Patricia J. Robinson, PhD, coauthor of The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Depression and Real Behavior Change in Primary Care
Review
“Reading The Thriving Adolescent sets you on a journey into the hearts and minds of young people in a way that is unique, fascinating, and incredibly informative. From the beginning, I felt compelled to reflect upon how, as a therapist, my goal was always to help distressed adolescents adapt to the adult world. This book turns that assumption upside down and asks us instead to help adolescents linger longer in their journey to adulthood by cultivating their abilities to notice what is going on in their world; to detach from destructive, self-focused mental chatter; and to be playful and experimental in their behaviors. Just as it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a prosocial approach like the DNA-V model to give us a sense of direction with a distressed adolescent. This book is packed full of revealing insights, interesting case examples, therapist-client dialogues, practical clinical tips, teaching protocols, and worksheets. All of this is done in an easy-to-read, conversational, and entertaining style. The Thriving Adolescent addresses the social landscape of adolescence, from the intricacies of developing healthy self-narratives to creating naturally occurring prosocial groups that help adolescents discover the practice of kindness to self and others. This book is a must-read for teachers, school counselors, therapists, and anyone else who wants to help teenagers thrive.”—Kirk Strosahl, PhD, cofounder of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and coauthor of Inside This Moment and In This Moment
Review
“This book breaks new ground in our understanding of how to nurture the development of adolescents. It translates the acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) perspective into a strategy for helping young people develop social and emotional competence. I expect that it will enable schools, families, clinics, juvenile justice works, and communities become much more oriented toward ensuring that young people become caring and productive members of their communities.”—Anthony Biglan, PhD, senior scientist at Oregon Research Institute, and author of The Nurture Effect
Review
“This is an excellent resource written by two eminent thinkers and skilled practitioners. Every chapter is filled with creative exercises, metaphors for explaining complex ideas, and scripts that can be fine-tuned for each teenager you’re trying to help. With step-by-step strategies, this book is a road map for leading adolescents toward a better life.”—Todd B. Kashdan, PhD, professor of psychology at George Mason University and coauthor of The Upside of Your Dark Side
Review
“This book is not about psychopathology. It is about that struggle for identity and becoming that happens in adolescence. Hayes and Ciarrochi offer a comprehensive developmental approach built on the best available science. It contains well-thought-out theory to ground the work and is packed with tools, transcripts, and real-life examples to make it readily accessible to any teacher, counselor, and health care professional.”—Kelly G. Wilson, PhD, professor of psychology at the University of Mississippi and author of Mindfulness for Two
Review
“How I have longed for this book! It’s an invaluable resource for helping teenagers to grow into their full potential and live life full out. This book is an engaging and clear road map with its practical suggestions, worksheets, exercises, and examples. It’s a must-have for teachers, counselors, and health professionals working with adolescents.”—Fredrik Livheim, licensed clinical psychologist, clinical researcher on ACT for teens at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, and coauthor of The Mindful and Effective Employee
Review
“The Thriving Adolescent moves beyond traditional behaviorisms to present a new perspective on engaging young people in vitalizing relational ways. The book is rich with ideas at the interface between positive psychology and youth development, and with practical strategies for helping young people identify meaningful goals and life values. Hayes and Ciarrochi map out many useful and concrete pathways for adults to build constructive, facilitating relationships with teenagers that can contribute to flourishing on both sides of the dialogue. Definitely advances the field.”—Richard M. Ryan, professor at the Institute for Positive Psychology and Education at the Australian Catholic University
Review
“The Thriving Adolescent contains a great deal of wisdom and understanding of young people, and a practical approach to working with them in a developmentally attuned way. There are few clear and practical blueprints for this vital work, and the model the authors have crafted will be a useful addition to the repertoire of clinicians.”—Patrick McGorry, AO, MD, PhD, FRCP, FRANZCP, executive director of Orygen, and professor of youth mental health at the University of Melbourne
Review
“This is a long-needed book. The combination of Hayes’s and Ciarrochi’s expertise in clinical and research work with adolescents contribute to make acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) simple to apply even for those who are new to this third-generation cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) approach. Their DNA-V model is robustly grounded in the ACT research tradition. The authors distill its essence into three core behaviors, making it easy to build psychological flexibility and openness to the world and to any experience (which is basically what is needed by any adolescent in the world). There is no need to be an ACT expert to practice the DNA-V model, but you will become that expert. Exercises and metaphors are specifically tailored within a developmental frame and with adolescence in mind to help the reader become the context that models, instigates, and reinforces DNA skills in young people. This book should be read (and practiced) by any person interested in adolescence, or in being a therapist, counselor, teacher, or simply a parent.”—Giovambattista Presti, associate professor of psychology and coordinator of the undergraduate program in psychology at Kore University of Enna, Italy
Review
“Listen up counselors, teachers, and primary care clinicians. If you care about adolescents and helping them flourish, this book is for you. The authors provide a theoretical basis to support ‘DNA-V conceptualization’ of adolescent evolution, and they make intervention easy with downloadable worksheets. Read it, apply it, and take pride in the fact that you are more able to love, protect, and equip tomorrow’s leaders.”—Patricia J. Robinson, PhD, director or training at Mountainview Consulting Group, and coauthor of Real Behavior Change in Primary Care
Synopsis
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Interpersonal Problems offers a complete professional protocol for treating clients who suffer from a variety of interpersonal issues, including tendencies toward blame, withdrawal, anger, contempt, defensiveness, and distrust. Based in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and schema therapy, this approach helps clients understand and move past their interpersonal disruptions and difficulties.
Synopsis
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Interpersonal Problems presents a complete treatment protocol for therapists working with clients who repeatedly fall into unhealthy patterns in their relationships with friends, family members, coworkers, and romantic partners. These clients may blame others, withdraw when feeling threatened, react defensively in conflicts, or have a deep-seated sense of distrust—all interpersonal problems that damage relationships and cause enormous suffering.
This book presents an acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) approach—utilizing a schema-based formulation—to help these clients overcome maladaptive interpersonal behavior. First, clients learn how schema avoidance behavior damages their relationships. Second, clients face “creative hopelessness” and practice new mindfulness skills. Third, clients examine what they value in their relationships and what they hope to gain from them, and translate their values into clear intentions for acting differently in the future. And lastly, clients face the cognitive and emotional barriers standing between them and values-based behavior in their relationships. By learning to act on their values instead of falling into schema-influenced patterns, clients can eventually overcome the interpersonal problems that hold them back.
Synopsis
Todays children and adolescents face intense pressuresboth in the classroom and at home. A Still Quiet Place presents an eight-week mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program that therapists, teachers, and other professionals can use to help children and adolescents manage stress and anxiety in their lives. The easy-to-implement practices in this guide are designed to help increase attention, learning, resiliency, and compassion by showing children how to experience the natural quietness that can be found within. The book also includes links to helpful audio downloads.
Synopsis
Teaching kids stress management skills early in life will help them to grow into happy and healthy adults. And if you work with children or adolescents, you know that kids today need these skills more than ever. The pressures they face in the classroom, on the playground, in their extracurricular activities, and at home can sometimes be overwhelming. So how can you help lay the groundwork for their success? A Still Quiet Place presents an eight-week mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program that therapists, teachers, and other professionals can use to help children and adolescents manage stress and anxiety in their lives, and develop their natural capacities for emotional fluency, respectful communication, and compassionate action. The program detailed in this book is based on author Amy Saltzmans original curriculum, which has helped countless children and adolescents achieve significant improvements in attention and reduced anxiety.
One of the easiest ways to find the still quiet place within is to practice mindfulnesspaying attention to your life experience here and now with kindness and curiosity. The easy-to-implement mindfulness practices in this guide are designed to help increase children and adolescents attention, learning, resiliency, and compassion by showing them how to experience the natural quietness that can be found within. The still quiet place is a place of peace and happiness that is alive inside all of us, and you can find it just by closing your eyes and breathing. For more information, visit www.stillquietplace.com.
Synopsis
Based on the bestselling book Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life by acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) founder Steven Hayes, Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life for Teens helps readers identify and act on their values, even when faced with difficult emotions and life events.
Synopsis
If you could only get past feelings of embarrassment, fear, self-criticism, and self-doubt, how would your life be different? You might take more chances and make more mistakes, but youd also be able to live more freely and confidently than ever before.
Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life for Teens is a workbook that provides you with essential skills for coping with the difficult and sometimes overwhelming emotions that stress you out and cause you pain. The emotions arent going anywhere, but you can find out how to deal with them. Once you do, you will become a mindful warriora strong person who handles tough emotions with grace and dignityand gain many more friends and accomplishments along the way.
Based in proven-effective acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), this book will arm you with powerful skills to help you use the power of mindfulness in everyday situations, stop finding faults in yourself and start solving your problems, how to be kinder to yourself so you feel confident and have a greater sense of self-worth, and how to identify the values that will help you create the life of your dreams.
Synopsis
The Thriving Adolescent offers teachers, counselors, and mental health professionals powerful techniques for working with adolescents. Based in proven-effective acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), the skills and tips outlined in this book will help adolescents and teens manage difficult emotions, connect with their values, achieve mindfulness and vitality, and develop positive relationships with friends and family. This is the first book to apply ACT to treating this population.
About the Author
Joseph Ciarrochi, PhD, is a professor at the Institute of Positive Psychology and Education at the Australian Catholic University, and coauthor of Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life for Teens. He has published over 100 scientific journal articles and many books, including the widely acclaimed Emotional Intelligence in Everyday Life and Mindfulness, Acceptance, and Positive Psychology. He has been honored with over four million dollars in research funding. His work has been discussed on TV and radio, and in magazines and newspaper articles.
Louise L. Hayes, PhD, is an international ACT trainer and speaker; she is also a clinical psychologist, and researcher with the University of Melbourne and Orygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health in Australia. She has published research trials using ACT for young people, and is coauthor of Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life for Teens. She is dedicated to helping young people and their families live well.
Ann Bailey, MA, is an experienced acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) practitioner and supervisor who developed an award winning public mental health service for the treatment of borderline personality disorder and anxiety disorders. The therapeutic models used in this service integrate ACT, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT).Steven C. Hayes, PhD, is Nevada Foundation Professor and director of clinical training at the department of psychology at the University of Nevada. An author of 38 books and over 540 scientific articles, his career has focused on analysis of the nature of human language and cognition, and its application to the understanding and alleviation of human suffering and promotion of human prosperity. Among other associations, Hayes has been president of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy, and the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science. His work has received several awards, including the Impact of Science on Application Award from the Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy.