User:Abshirec/sandbox

Article evaluation
In fixing this article, I would like to go through and fix all of the grammatical errors as well as find citations that are more reliable. In addition, I would like to rewrite the introduction and possible rearrange/add some subsections. Below, I have added sections and subsections from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy that I think would help create my own. The section on medical uses needs to be redone completely as well. There are a lot of references to Steven C. Hayes which is the creator of Acceptance and Commitment therapy. Therefore, using articles or books he wrote is unacceptable.
 * 1Description
 * 2Medical uses
 * 2.1Anxiety disorders
 * 2.2Schizophrenia, psychosis and mood disorders
 * 2.3With older adults
 * 2.4Prevention of mental illness
 * 2.5Gambling addiction
 * 2.6Smoking cessation
 * 2.7Eating disorders
 * 3History
 * 3.1Philosophical roots
 * 3.2Behavior therapy roots
 * 3.3Cognitive therapy roots
 * 3.4Behavior and cognitive therapies merge

Articles/Books to use
'''Flaxman, P.E., Blackledge, J.T., Bond. F. W. (2011). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Distinctive Features. New York, NY: Routledge.'''

The authors claim that ACT is built on one of the most highly researched behavior analytic theories. This theory is called the Relational Framing Theory (RFT). ACT can be used for a multiude of diagnoses such as chronic pain, anxiety, depression, and work-related burnout. ACT has been used to improve clients' self-management skills and as a preventative approach in a variety of settings; schools, colleges, and workplaces. Despite the changing environments that ACT is used in, the outcomes remain consistent.

'''Hofmann, S. G. Asmundson, G. J. G. (2017). The science of cognitive behavioral therapy. Boston, MA: Elsevier.'''

The authors say that clients benefit more from ACT than they do from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy when they have multiple diagnoses (comorbidities). Questionaires have been created to assess the clients acceptance and avoidance levels. A commonly used questionnaire is the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ-II). These questions seek to evaluate the clients' avoidance tendencies and their amount of psychological flexibility. Researchers have found that when a client is experiencing more distress, it is likely related to their amount of psychological flexibility; higher psychological flexibility promotes more distress).

'''Masuda, A. (Ed.). (2014). Mindfulness and acceptance in multicultural competency : a contextual approach to sociocultural diversity in theory and practice. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com '''

This article mentions that ACT does not take a multi-cultural approach. Following approaches that are specific to one region of the world inherently makes the therapy culturally biased. However, they mention that in order to allow therapies like ACT to be culturally competent, the clinician must must take an active role in making sure the therapy is effective and that they are minimizing the amount of negative biases that could come through for the client while participating in the therapy. In order to do so, the clinician must acknowledge how the client is feeling and what they are experiencing to the best of their ability.

'''Orsillo, S. (2016). The Oxford handbook of cognitive and behavioral therapies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.'''

ACT seeks to combine multiple factors in order to move the healing process along in a positive way. Acceptance and mindfulness are used to create a change within the person's behavior, to inspire psychological healing and flexibility. Within ACT there is an underlying assumption that people will experience traumatic experiences. When one does not accept what has happened this promotes the longevity of suffering and pain. The creators of ACT developed this therapy on a theory that presumes language perpetuates human suffering. Relational framing refers to the associations that are made within one's everyday social environment and provides assumptions or preconceptions about objects or experiences in the future.

'''Zettle, R. (2017). Acceptance and mindfulness-based interventions. The Oxford handbook of mood disorders. New York, NY:Oxford University Press.'''

ACT is empirically supported to treat unipolar depression. This therapy was developed to take a transdiagnostic approach. Which means a therapist can use this therapy to treat multiple diagnoses without changing the basic principles. Within this approach, acceptance is seen to encourage mindfulness.The conceptual basis used to develop this approach is the relational frame theory. ACT has a philosophical background relating to functional contextualism. Allowing thoughts and feelings to come and go is key to this therapy. The purpose is to not avoid or push away those feelings or thoughts that arise but to accept them.

'''Zettle, R. (2016). The potential of community-wide strategies for promoting psychological flexibility. The Wiley handbook of contextual behavioral science. Winchester, England: Wiley Blackwell.'''

ACT is hard to evaluate because of the concepts used within this therapy, such as being in the moment, level of awareness, and level of acceptance. Analysis of the effectiveness of ACT is compromised due to these abstract concepts. Although, with the transdiagnostic approach researchers have been able to evaluate this therapy in a variety of settings. ACT has been empirically supported as treatments for mainly depression but also for obsessive compulsive disorder, chronic pain, and anxiety.The author mentions six different concepts that contribute to psychological flexibility which are acceptance, defusion, self-as-context, mindfulness, committed action, and values. These concepts make up the "Hexaflex model".

Raskassa's Peer Review
I feel that you have some pretty solid articles to use for your primary article. The only advice that I would give you is that maybe you could gather more sources that shows the negatives of ACT so there can be more of a neutral perspective, that is just my opinion because I can't really find anything wrong here.. I like how you gathered the source about ACT not being multicultural and the Zettle article saying that ACT is hard to evaluate. I look forward to reading more of your article when you finalize it. Johnsonr5 (talk) 14:55, 14 February 2018 (UTC)

Response to Raskassa
Thank you for reading over what I have! I definitely will try to find sources that have information about the possible negatives of ACT. I hope your article is coming along well!

Editing Introduction from Article
Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT, typically pronounced as the word "act") is a form of counseling and a branch of clinical behavior analysis. Steven C. Hayes developed Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in 1982 in order to create a mixed approach which integrates both cognitive and behavioral therapy. ACT was originally called comprehensive distancing. ACT seeks to combine multiple factors in order to move the healing process along in a positive way. Acceptance and mindfulness are used to create a change within the person's behavior, to inspire psychological healing and flexibility. Within ACT there is an underlying assumption that people will experience traumatic experiences. When one does not accept what has happened this promotes the longevity of suffering and pain. The creators of ACT developed this therapy on a theory that presumes language perpetuates human suffering. Researchers claim that ACT is built on one of the most highly researched behavior analytic theories; the relational framing theory. Relational framing refers to the associations that are made within one's everyday social environment and provides assumptions or preconceptions about objects or experiences in the future.

The objective of ACT is not elimination of difficult feelings; rather, it is to be present with what life brings us and to "move toward valued behavior". Acceptance and commitment therapy invites people to open up to unpleasant feelings, and learn not to overreact to them, and not avoiding situations where they are invoked. Researchers have found that clients benefit more from ACT than they do from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy when they have multiple diagnoses (comorbidities). Questionnaires have been created to assess the clients acceptance and avoidance levels. A commonly used questionnaire is the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ-II). These questions seek to evaluate the clients' avoidance tendencies and their amount of psychological flexibility. Researchers have found that when a client is experiencing more distress, it is likely related to their amount of psychological flexibility; higher psychological flexibility promotes more distress).

ACT is difficult to evaluate because of the concepts used within this therapy, such as being in the moment, level of awareness, and level of acceptance. Analysis of the effectiveness of ACT is compromised due to these abstract concepts. For example, its therapeutic effect is a positive spiral where feeling better leads to a better understanding of the truth. In ACT, 'truth' is measured through the concept of 'workability', or what works to take another step toward what matters (e.g. values, meaning). Although, with the transdiagnostic approach researchers have been able to evaluate this therapy in a variety of settings. There are a variety of protocols for ACT, depending on the target behavior or setting. For example, in behavioral health areas a brief version of ACT is called focused acceptance and commitment therapy (FACT). ACT has been empirically supported as treatments for mainly depression but also for obsessive compulsive disorder, chronic pain, and anxiety.The author mentions six different concepts that contribute to psychological flexibility which are acceptance, defusion, self-as-context, mindfulness, committed action, and values. These concepts make up the "Hexaflex model".

Criticisms have been made regarding ACT and the effectiveness of this therapy when used with diverse populations. Approaches that are specific to one region of the world inherently makes the therapy culturally biased. However, they mention that in order to allow therapies like ACT to be culturally competent, the clinician must must take an active role in making sure the therapy is effective and that they are minimizing the amount of negative biases that could come through for the client while participating in the therapy. In order to do so, the clinician must acknowledge how the client is feeling and what they are experiencing to the best of their ability. Researchers have tried to analyze whether ACT has been successful in other cultures, however, they found that many were not sufficiently documenting their clients' demographic information. Evaluating ACT's cultural competence is not possible unless published articles from other cultures/countries start including demographic information for participants.