Customer Reviews

Acceptance- and Mindfulness-Based Approaches to Anxiety: Conceptualization and Treatment (Series in Anxiety and Related Disorders)

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This impressive book is way more than a thoroughgoing review and analysis of a distinctly new approach to treating anxiety, which it accomplishes admirably well. It is a clear, foundational text on the "new wave" of empirically-validated psychological treatment-acceptance and mindfulness-based therapy. For mindfulness-oriented therapists of all stripes seeking the scientific foundation for what we do, this is it.

Susan Orsillo and Lizbeth Roemer have gathered together 30 scientist-practitioners (including themselves) under one cover, and had them tackle a variety of questions, such as, "What is the role of emotion in this new generation of empirically-validated treatment?" " What are the component parts of mindfulness?" "Are mindfulness and acceptance the same thing?" "How do the psychological processes of mindfulness and acceptance match up with the processes that create and sustain anxiety disorders?" "Is acceptance a cause or effect of treatment effectiveness?" "What are the limitations of current treatment approaches for anxiety disorders, such as panic disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, or social anxiety, and how might the new approaches improve treatment?" "What exactly would a clinician do to treat anxiety, working from an ACT, DBT, or MBSR model?" "How would we treat anxious kids within this paradigm?" There is even an interesting chapter on the basic science-what goes on in the psychology lab that shows, or doesn't show, how a mindful and accepting attitude toward uncomfortable experience affects outcome.

This penetrating, scholarly volume will make some clinicians happy and willing-even proud-to return to the scientific fold. Experiential and relational psychotherapists will not feel left out. I routinely recommend this book to therapists and students who are curious why mindfulness is currently one of the hottest topics in psychotherapy, and to clinicians interested in the latest psychosocial treatments for anxiety.