Bullying And Commitment Therapy

Bullying is a widespread and increasing problem among youth in the United States and other countries throughout the world (Olweus, 1995; Carney & Merrell, 2001; Wang, Iannotti, & Nansel, 2009; Benedict,
Vivier, & Gjelsvik, 2015). Bullying is said to occur when an individual is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions from one or more individuals (Olweus, 1995). These negative actions can manifest in either direct or indirect ways (Wang et al., 2009). Direct forms include overt aggression (e.g., physical attacks) and verbal aggression (e.g., name-calling). Indirect forms, such as relational aggression, involve attempts to harm a relationship with another peer by means of covert or manipulative behaviors
(e.g., social exclusion, …show more content…
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT; Hayes et al., 2006) is a third-wave Cognitive Behavioral
Therapy (CBT) tradition that posits much of human suffering and psychopathology can be attributed to experiential avoidance. The goal of ACT therapists is to increase clients' psychological flexibility, or "the ability to contact the present moment more fully as a conscious human being, and to change or persist in behavior when doing so serves valued ends" (Hayes et al., 2006, p. 7). In other words, patients are taught to be present in the here-and-now, even if it means having uncomfortable or painful internal experiences, in order to live a meaningful life. This, in turn, involves decreasing experiential avoidance. ACT therapists teach clients how to become more psychologically flexible using acceptance and mindfulness-based techniques. A core assumption in ACT is that experiencing pain and distress is an unavoidable part of being human, so accepting it as normal (as opposed to trying to control it) can change one's relationship with it for the better. Mindfulness involves observing the ongoing stream …show more content…
In ACT, this de-literalization of thoughts and other private events is termed "cognitive defusion"
(Hayes et al., 2006), and is another aim of the therapy in addition to the decreasing of experiential avoidance to achieve the overall goal of increasing psychological flexibility.
Empirical trials of ACT have shown it to be extremely effective in treating adults from many different populations, including both clinical and nonclinical, in a wide variety of problems (see Hayes et al., 2006 for a review). ACT and interventions utilizing ACT components have been found to be effective in reducing aggression. For instance, Zarling, Lawrence, and Marchman (2015) found significant decreases in both psychological and physical aggression in a 12-week ACT intervention for partner aggression in
Knottek 3 adults, with improvements partially mediated by reductions in experiential avoidance and emotion dysregulation. Additionally, these gains were retained or continued to improve over the 6-month followup period. In another study, Heppner et al. (2008) found heightened mindfulness to be significantly associated with lower levels of aggressive behaviors in response to a social rejection. Findings such

Show More

Bullying: Bullying and bully Prevention Program Essay

Trauma Case Studies

Essay on Health Care

Chibuzor S Work Essay

Essay on Business And Organizations

Essay On Recidivism

Unit 3 Essay

An Introduction To Stress: What Is It?

Class notes Sociology Essay

Essay on Learning and Social Care