A New Approach to an Old Problem
- Latest research on ACT for eating disorders and weight concerns
- Avoidance and control in the development and maintenance of chronic dieting and overeating
- Metaphor to illustrate the paradox of control
- Creative hopelessness to motivate clients to try something different
- Psychological Flexibility (PF) as a new path
Being Present: Help Clients Live in the Now
- How being present relates to eating and weight concerns
- Shift clients from “doing something” about their body to “being in” their body
- Cultivate beginner’s mind and one-eye-in, one-eyeout skills
- Practices for embodied eating and embodied movement
- A different approach to preoccupation with food and weight
- The paradox of trying to control thoughts about eating and weight
- A new metaphor for preoccupation with food and weight
- Practices for food rules, shoulds, body comparison, and “what the heck” thoughts
- What acceptance is and what it is not
- How chronic dieting, preoccupation with food, emotional overeating, and over-exercise can serve as experiential avoidance strategies
- How to use the experiential avoidance roundabout metaphor with clients
- Practices for willingness and curiosity to expand clients’ window of flexibility
- How rigid self-stories about eating and weight limits flexibility and connection
- How to identify when a client is stuck in a self-story
- Practice flexible perspective taking with clients
- Cultivate an “attuned parent’ perspective to increase self-compassion and wise responses with food and weight
Values: Help Clients Choose Direction
- How values are defined in ACT
- The role of values in motivating change
- How to use the choice point model to increase awareness of values
- Uncover intrinsic motivation for change with values
- Focus on action over outcome while working toward change
- Behavioral science to support small, sustainable changes
- Create values-based action plans
- Case examples
- How to use the 6 core processes when clients are off track
- The role of therapist PF in supporting client psychological flexibility
- Limitations of research and potential risks


