Embracing Mental Health: The Power of Acceptance and Letting Go

The British Journal of Psychiatry, 2013

for anyone who wishes to extend their knowledge and develop services for OCD. As well as presenting the science behind OCD, the outcomes of various therapeutic interventions are also examined. My criticism of the book is that, as a multi-author work, it is in parts highly repetitive. For example, almost every chapter includes a description of the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale. This may be useful for the reader who uses the book as a reference work, but it is tedious for anyone reading it from beginning to end. Another criticism is that whereas a wealth of neuropsychiatric research is presented, cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) is rather sparsely covered. There is a relatively short chapter on psychological treatments but the general role of CBT, such as in treatment-refractory OCD, is not fully described. Despite my reservations I feel this is a useful addition to the literature and would recommend it to all adult and child psychiatrists who may wonder how to treat these patients.

The present investigation compared the subjective and physiological effects of emotional suppression and acceptance in a sample of individuals with anxiety and mood disorders. Sixty participants diagnosed with anxiety and mood disorders were randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group listened to a rationale for suppressing emotions, and the other group listened to a rationale for accepting emotions. Participants then watched an emotion-provoking film and applied the instructions. Subjective distress, heart rate, skin conductance level, and respiratory sinus arrhythmia were measured before, during, and after the film. Although both groups reported similar levels of subjective distress during the film, the acceptance group displayed less negative affect during the post-film recovery period. Furthermore, the suppression group showed increased heart rate and the acceptance group decreased heart rate in response to the film. There were no differences between the two groups in skin conductance or respiratory sinus arrhythmia. These findings are discussed in the context of the existing body of research on emotion regulation and current treatment approaches for anxiety and mood disorders.

Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 2014

This article addresses the use of exposure therapy for OCD as informed by an acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) framework. The model on which ACT is based is covered, including its philosophy, basic research, targeted process of change, individual treatment components, and general manual. Specific suggestions for how to prepare, select, set up, and conclude exposure exercises from an ACT perspective are included and illustrated using the case of Monica as an example. Empirical support for this approach is briefly covered. (M.P. Twohig).

Psychiatry journal, 2015

Objective. This study examined the use of psychological acceptance and experiential avoidance, two key concepts of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), in the psychological recovery process of people with enduring mental illness. Method. Sixty-seven participants were recruited from the metropolitan, regional, and rural areas of New South Wales, Australia. They all presented some form of chronic mental illness (at least 12 months) as reflected in DSM-IV Axis I diagnostic criteria. The Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ-19) was used to measure the presence of psychological acceptance and experiential avoidance; the Recovery Assessment Scale (RAS) was used to examine the levels of psychological recovery; and the Scales of Psychological Well-Being was used to observe if there are benefits in utilizing psychological acceptance and experiential avoidance in the recovery process. Results. An analysis of objectively quantifiable measures found no clear correlation between the use ...

Journal of Maharishi Vedic Research Institute, 2024

This research explores the efficacy of transcending through the practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique in reducing symptoms of obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). ‘Transcending’ is defined as the conscious mind effortlessly going beyond all mental activity (i.e., thoughts or states of mental excitation) to experience the inner Self, a state of inner peace or Transcendental Consciousness, a process facilitated by Transcendental Meditation. The two most common treatments for OCD—cognitive behavioural therapy and medication—reduce OCD symptoms but do not address the underlying cause of OCD, which is stress and a fragmented sense of self. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 people with OCD who learned the Transcendental Meditation technique, as introduced and taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (Maharishi Foundation International, 2009), and thereby had access to the experience of transcending. Content analysis of interview data revealed that transcending primarily led to an integration of one’s sense of self and feelings. Codes included decreased anxiety, calmness, love, higher self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-trust. Transcending was seen as a holistic treatment which led to integration of all levels of individual life. Transcending during Transcendental Meditation appears to treat OCD by working at the source of the disorder, thereby providing a reliable foundation for real freedom from the obsessions and compulsions that characterise OCD.

Mindfulness and the therapeutic …, 2008

Trials, 2015

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a distressing and debilitating condition affecting 1-2% of the population. Exposure and response prevention (ERP) is a behaviour therapy for OCD with the strongest evidence for effectiveness of any psychological therapy for the condition. Even so, only about half of people offered ERP show recovery after the therapy. An important reason for ERP failure is that about 25% of people drop out early, and even for those who continue with the therapy, many do not regularly engage in ERP tasks, an essential element of ERP. A mindfulness-based approach has the potential to reduce drop-out from ERP and to improve ERP task engagement with an emphasis on accepting difficult thoughts, feelings and bodily sessions and on becoming more aware of urges, rather than automatically acting on them. This is a pilot randomised controlled trial of mindfulness-based ERP (MB-ERP) with the aim of establishing parameters for a definitive trial. Forty participants diagnose...

The persons with OCD have increased levels of negative emotions particularly anxiety, fear and sadness. Also they have difficulties in regulating their negative emotions. In the present paper, we explored the association of suppression and re-appraisal emotion regulation strategies in relation to dimensions of OCD. 30 patients with OCD sampled from Institute of Mental Health and Hospital, Agra were individually administered Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (Gross & John 2003) and Dimensional Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Abramowitz et al. 2010). The results suggested that re-appraisal strategy was negative associated with Germs Dimension and positively associated with Thoughts Dimension of OCD. It is suggested that for the use of different types of emotion regulation strategy vary with the nature of psychopathology in the patients with OCD. Heightened negative emotions specifically anxiety, fear and sadness accompany psychopathology in patients with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) (Yap et al., 2012). Empirical observations suggest bi-directionality in the relationship between OCD psychopathology and negative emotions, i.e. experiences that elicit negative emotions aggravate the symptoms, also the symptoms intensify negative emotions. Many persons with OCD develop secondary depression. The manners in which the distressing emotions are handled can affect the overall psychopathology as well as the sense of control and wellbeing. Gratz and Roemer (2004) suggested that the emotion regulation difficulties may result from multiple deficits which include poor understanding and awareness of emotions, poor acceptance of negative emotional experiences, difficulties in controlling impulses, lack of flexibility in adopting suitable emotion regulation strategy etc. Studies (Allen & Barlow, 2009; Cristea et al. 2013; Twohig et al., 2010) further suggest that avoidance of emotions play a key role in psychological disorders.

Pragmatic Case Studies in Psychotherapy, 2008

This response to the commentaries of and of focuses on the utility of treatments nested within different theoretical schools of thought. Here I concentrate on the use of self as clinical tool, and the need to define variables and concepts in treatment so that they can be methodically utilized. I also choose to focus on the use of functional analysis to sharpen the accuracy of exposure treatment, and on the relative value of the use of cognitive therapy in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) treatment. Finally, I describe a 5-year follow-up conversation with Bridget along with Bridget's repeat of standardized ratings to illustrate the struggle in differentiating scrupulosity and religious observance as it is experienced by the scrupulous OCD patient.

BMJ Open, 2021

IntroductionCognitive–behavioural therapy (CBT) with exposure and response prevention is the recommended standard for the treatment of obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). However, a high proportion of patients refuse this treatment, do not respond or relapse shortly after treatment. Growing evidence suggests that mindfulness-based and acceptance-based programmes (MABPs) are an effective option for the treatment of OCD. This systematic review and meta-analysis will examine the effectiveness of MABPs in treating OCD. We also aimed to explore potential moderators of the programmes’ effectiveness.Methods and analysisWe will systematically search MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, PSYINDEX, Web of Science, CINAHL and Cochrane Register of Controlled Trials (no language restrictions) for studies that evaluate the effect of MABPs on patients with OCD. We will conduct backward and forward citation searches of included studies and relevant reviews and contact corresponding authors. The primary outco...