A Liberated Mind: How to Pivot Toward What Matters

I’ve just finished A Liberated Mind by Steven Hayes. I couldn’t put it down, well ok I did a number of times, including to pause as a memory popped up which I observed and noticed some dots joined together, and to do some of the exercises. It is a powerful and beautifully written book. I say I’ve finished it yet I haven’t really, what I have done is read it cover to cover and done some of the exercises along the way. I’m going to be doing the exercises I haven’t yet done and creating myself a plan of exercises to incorporate into life as I keep exploring & learning more about acceptance & commitment therapy (ACT). ACT has been part of my life a little while and I’ve used aspects in clinic with compassion focused therapy, though I’ve not used ACT daily myself. It’s companion for me is Compassionate Mind Training (CMT) (Compassion Focused Therapy in the therapy setting) which I have woven into daily life over the last few years and into clinic. Having immersed myself into the book the last three days and done some of the exercises I can see it would be helpful for me to weave ACT into my daily life too. I am a Physiotherapist & Coach who helps people with neurological conditions and those struggling with persistent pain (chronic pain) and know that what I’ve learned, and am learning, will have many benefits in clinic as well as for me personally. I live with persistent pain and usually live well despite pain, however this year I was struggling with some changes, many things in this book have helped and I’ve dropped the rope (for now!). This book has given me clarity, information and tools to use for myself and the people I work with. I know what I have learnt, and will continue to learn, will help me, my family, friends and those I work with in clinic every day. I will be sharing learning in little ways as best I can. If you like me value living the best you can, following a life aligned with your values, understanding what it is to be human, and learning to dance through life with flexibility then you will love this book. This book is packed full of wisdom, it’s beautifully written, it creates a sense of wonder and curiosity and it connects deeply. I am grateful for reading this book for many reasons. I am finding words are escaping me to sum it up effectively so here’s my main summary...WOW!

I love this book! Having read some of the authors previous books and struggled to really grasp the intricacies of ACT, I am delighted that Steve Hayes has written this book. He makes understanding complex ideas accessible to the general reader. I know I can now revisit his previous books and with the information and insights gleaned from “The Liberated Mind”, understand more fully my own thought processes and the psychological theory behind Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. If you have struggled with negative thoughts, with uncomfortable feelings and with living the kind of life you truly want to be living. Then this is a worthwhile investment. I haven’t finished this book yet but I am enjoying every page.

A Liberated Mind by Steven Hayes is not just a book about a psychotherapy its a book about how to increase the quality of your life and the life of others whether they are you clients, family, friends neighbors, colleagues or community - this book is relevant to better your relationships and communication in all situations. "Becoming a Better Human" would have been my choice for subtitle for this book. I thoroughly recommend it to all that are interested in themselves becoming better humans or helping others to do so. Best regards Dov Benyaacov- Kurtzman

Being in anxiety recovery since childhoold i’m very happy to have found ACT and Steven Hayes’ work. Many of it’s tools can be found in other old therapies and traditions but ACT delivers them in a simple, down-to-earth and working framework, probably the best for anxiety and depression. The book also tells the story of Dr. Hayes’ own recovery from anxiety, which is trully inspiring. A very good read.

I loved reading this book. The approach has really transformed my life in terms of relations, work and ultimately doing what matters.

Wonderful inspiring book

Wonderful and accessible guide to ACT theory, history and practices.

There are some great exercises in this book that will really benefit you if you suffer with anxiety etc. But this book is way too long. Too much focus on statistics and the history of ACT. It felt like the book was constantly trying to prove itself to the reader. Would I recommend it? Yes but prepare yourself for the information overload.

perfect book

Can give a different perspective to life

I'm a fan of this new book & can recommend it highly to anyone looking for techniques for moving toward a life of meaning rather than a life of feeling pushed around. However, I have the advantage of already being familiar with the approach that underlies the book - a type of self-help and talk therapy I've practiced for many years. If you are NOT familiar with this approach, but would like to learn a little more before committing your time and $$, this review is for you! It's long, but that way you'll get the full picture. The author, Steven Hayes, is a talk therapist & academic psychologist. He's best known as the founder of a talk therapy called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT. He and a small band of researchers began developing ACT decades ago. Early on it was little-known, but that changed in 2006, when TIME magazine ran an article on Hayes & ACT with the title of "Happiness Isn't Normal". That title wasn't strictly accurate - but it did capture a crucial quality of ACT that makes it unique. Up until quite recently, nearly all modern talk therapies were built around an assumption borrowed from medicine: Namely, that illness of any sort represents a breakdown of our default state of perfect health. Another way to say this is that talk therapies such as CBT traditionally treated anxiety, depression, marital problems, substance abuse, etc., as if they were the psychological equivalents of a broken leg. All well & good - except that CBT researchers began to discover that some methods that relied on the model didn't work very well - e.g. the idea that clients should dispute "irrational thoughts" and replace them with "rational thoughts," the way a mechanic might switch out a bad fuel injector in your car. Doubts crept in about the "mental health is normal, mental illness is abnormal" method. One response was the "positive psychology" movement - and another response was ACT. ACT flipped the old assumptions. Similar to Buddhism (but based on science, not religion) the ACT model contended that the typical "normal" for the human mind isn't health, but suffering. What causes the suffering? Where Buddhism talks vaguely of "conditioning", ACT offers a precise model of how our powerful ability to use abstract thought to change the outer world can get us in trouble when it comes to our inner world - the world of our thoughts & emotions. The model further explained why CBT ideas such as "thought fixing" were failing, & what might work better instead. Suffice to say that where in 2006, many in the field were skeptical of ACT, today psychology has swung around to the extent that many ACT concepts have been widely adopted by those doing new research within CBT. Terms include "acceptance", "self-compassion", "values", "mindfulness", "psychological flexibility", etc. It's a different ballgame thanks to ACT & other "third-wave" therapies, e.g. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy. Back to this book. Put simply, "A Liberated Mind" is Hayes's attempt to take ACT techniques and popularize them for everyone - whether or not you have a diagnosed mental illness. You might be a parent juggling kids & work; or someone stressed by social media & doomful headlines; or struggling to cope with an illness; or wanting to make a move or change in your life but scared about how to start. This book is for all of that, and more. That 2006 TIME article I mentioned? One direct effect of the article was to boost sales for Hayes's then brand-new self-help book, "Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life." The book became a best-seller and remains so even today. You can think of "A Liberated Mind" as being like "Get Out of Your Mind" - only for ALL readers. Two other neat things about this book: - Hayes walks us through both his professional and personal lives. The professional tour helps us understand how psychology evolved as a field and how it has intersected with the popular culture that surrounds us. And the personal tour gives us an inspiring inside look at how Hayes first hit upon the core moves of ACT in his struggle to cope with panic attacks as a young man. The author's willingness to share is what gives much of this book its power. - The bulk of the book is a manual of how to learn the core skills taught by ACT. The tips in these chapters are clearer than anything I've seen in an ACT self-help book. Plus there are plenty of anecdotes showing how real-life people have used the skills to move forward in their life. That's what ACT hopes to give to us. The model speaks compassionately of pain as inherent to the human experience - yet at the same time speaks to the potential we have for lives of purpose, meaning, joy, connection. In a word, liberation.

Perfect, very fast shipping and reasonable price for a hardcover.

Hay gente que dice que los libros de autoayuda no sirven, pero si algo he aprendido es que generalmente esa es gente que no ha leído ni uno y tiene muchos temas que resolver consigo misma