Finding Life Beyond Trauma: Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to Heal from Post-Traumatic Stress and Trauma-Related Problems

Victoria Follette · Jacqueline Pistorello

Jul 2007 · New Harbinger Publications

About this ebook

If you've experienced trauma—whether as a result of common life events like accidents or abusive personal relationships or extraordinary experiences like war or natural disasters—you may find that the pain and emotional unease you feel don't go away over time. In fact, they may get worse. But the trauma you experienced lies in the unchangeable past. Because of your strength and perseverance, you survived, and now the rest of your life stretches before you. How do you want to live it? Finding Life Beyond Trauma is about living life well after a traumatic event. It uses the powerful techniques of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to help you take a different approach to painful feelings and chart a new course for a rich and meaningful life.

First, you'll learn to accept the pain, sadness, and anxiety that can arise in connection to your trauma. By exploring mindfulness techniques, you'll be able to remain present with painful feelings and stop avoiding the thoughts and situations that bring them up. Instead of focusing on the past, you'll clarify what you want your life to be about right now and in the future. With your values clearly in mind, commit to actions that will express them in your life—guided by the powerful tools you'll find in this book.

About the author

Victoria M. Follette, PhD, is a foundation professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, and a clinical scientist specializing in interpersonal violence and body image problems.

Jacqueline Pistorello, PhD, is a clinical and research faculty member at the University of Nevada, Reno Counseling Services, where she has worked with college students for fifteen years. She specializes in the application of two mindfulness and acceptance-based behavioral approaches with college students: acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT). Pistorello has received grants from the National Institutes of Health to research the prevention and treatment of mental health problems among college students using ACT and DBT.

Steven C. Hayes, PhD, is Nevada Foundation Professor in the department of psychology at the University of Nevada, Reno. He has been president of numerous professional organizations, is author of forty-five books and nearly 650 scientific articles, and is among the most cited living psychologists. He has shown in his research how language and thought leads to human suffering, and is originator and codeveloper of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT): a powerful therapy method that is useful in a wide variety of areas; relational frame theory (RFT): an empirical program in language and cognition; and process-based therapy (with Stefan G. Hofmann).