How to Overcome Anxiety & Improve Resilience [Acceptance & Commitment Therapy]

[Music] you can watch the best parts of this series at met circle comm you are not your thoughts this is the key to a groundbreaking treatment called acceptance and commitment therapy or act act is the evidence-based way to break you free from your thoughts and change your life this series will walk you through how to revolutionize your self-identity and truly understand what it means to be happy welcome to the med circle premium series acceptance and commitment therapy the research backed road to self-discovery this I have used the phrase that is life-changing more during this series and maybe any series we've done on that circle because you changed my life giving me this information that's amazing I feel like that's how it was for me when I learned it to be really weird mind-blowing sort of group of techniques I think yes it mind-blowing is the right word yeah because if you've if you here's why it's here's what is so good here's why it's mind-blowing if you have never even considered this angle of thought is mind-blowing because it's brand-new if you're kind of familiar with it you finally gave an explanation that was understandable and follow able that people can actually get it to implement it that's good you know what I mean I think it's hard to explain it yes sometimes it's like okay what's the best way to really understand this new way of thinking that most people don't engage in right right yeah okay so we're talking about Act which stands for acceptance and commitment therapy yes what is that so acceptance and commitment therapy is a group of techniques that teaches you that you can live a meaningful life even if you're in suffering yeah and different ways to do that so the ultimate goal is to build psychological flexibility and I love that it's really about doing exactly what is needed in each situation and every single time it could be different and it teaches you about six different groups of techniques that can assist with that yeah and we went through each we went through acceptance cognitive diffuse being present mm-hmm good episode self as context yes which blew me away and while we were filming that whose watching was going mm-hmm they were getting it and then values and committed action that's those were and there's no way we can go through all of those right now but you mentioned that your favorite one was cognitive diffusion later you said they're kind of all your favorite but at least cognitive diffusion let's take a look at what you said about cognitive diffusion so our viewers can get a sneak peak [Music] well cognitive fusion is actually probably the most unique element to act and it's because it really thinks about how we utilize language and how oftentimes we spend way too much time using language by sort of looking from them instead of looking at them who language so thoughts cognitive events we spend time looking from a thought as opposed to looking at a thought as an event as an external thing that isn't us we have a thought and we immediately think from that thought okay assuming it's already true what does that mean about me what does that mean about the world what does that mean about my tomorrow what does that mean about my past as opposed to Oh interesting there's a thought right there this is blowing my mind and what's so great about all of these tools for a CT is that they can work for anybody even if you don't have depression or anxiety but if you do suffer from depression if you do suffer from anxiety these are tools in your tool belt that are not as prevalent and being discussed like cognitive behavioral therapy like dialectical behavior therapy this is something new pioneering on the leading edge of therapy that now people can put in their arsenal to live a better life right yeah and I think you don't have to wait until your suffering is over and that's the point the point is suffering can come and go that's not the point the point is to live a meaningful life so that you don't focus on your suffering as much right because there's things to live for there's things that bring you moments of joy even when you're in pain and that is an interesting idea for a lot of people that oh wow I'm in pain I can't do these things who says yes you can mm-hmm you can be in pain and still do them anyway sort of like be scared and do it anyway but it's like that with all negative sensations and feelings and thoughts yeah well my favorite part was self as context mm-hmm and you and I jokingly said oh this is getting a little woowoo yeah and it's only whoo-whoo because we don't talk about it a lot yeah once in 20 years this won't be woowoo anymore this will just be common discussions and yeah we'll have so we keep bear that in mind when you're watching the series but I liked it so much because it will allow me to move forward in my life yes as a better observer of my life and of my thoughts absolutely once you understand that you are not your thoughts yes when you're when you tell yourself or when you're thinking I'm such an idiot or not you immediately believe it yep whether you like it or not you immediately believe it but when you learn about self as context you become the observer of your thoughts right and you can have that thought and like you said yes is so good when you said instead of saying I'm such an idiot mm-hmm you just put in front of it I'm having a thought that I'm such an idiot and even that right there gives you the the power to move through life in a realistic way right rather than in a false false way right cuz you're not an idiot right and I think this just brings up a really important point which is you are not your thoughts you are not your thoughts that's an important message that act tries to spread is that you are not what you're thinking and you are not where you're feeling there is a separate you that is free yeah all of those conceptualized cells yeah yeah and all of that content it's in some ways meaningless yeah because there's a whole you that is just observing all the things that happen and has worth by itself without anything else and if someone's watching that without of context you and I just meant five hours talking about it show me we're in it someone's gonna go well what are they talking about this is weird there's a separate you what do they mean like are there aliens no no no this is all backed by science that's right dr. ho's here there's a lot of science behind out now and we dad we didn't have to do this to talk with about that as much and I do want to address it yes please which is that act has been researched and it hasn't been around as long as kind of evil therapy we talked about it being the third wave of CBT so it kind of came after CBT but we have tons of research on it now it totally works and I believe act as something that we call a trans diagnostic intervention which means it's not just for depression it's not just for anxiety it's just not for PTSD it's for all kinds of things yeah it's for beautiful yeah it treats problem it treats a symptom it treats suffering yeah it helped treat shame it can just treat these things that plague multiple clinical conditions or even when you're just stressed out mode you don't have to have a clinical diagnosis at all and it helps you to deal with those things what am i I think the biggest part of the series that just blew me away I had to put my cards down is when we talked about the self as context filling that void that everybody feels mm-hmm and I want to share that part with our viewers because I think they'll really relate to that so take a look at this so conceptualize self is the way that we always want to describe aspects of ourself with language right aspects of ourself with words yeah and that dominates and permeates our guys yeah I mean who are you oh I'm this I'm that doctor oh she's a triple word certified yeah she's like yeah yeah and that none of that matters really what really matters is the self as context and that's a weird shift it's like oh so it's just the self that nobody can describe and we shouldn't even try to describe it like what is that that's the more important that is so crazy how annoying is so crazy but but think about that think about the fact that when you are dominated by a conceptualized self then you identify yourself based on certain things and you believe certain people should react you in certain way yeah so if you define yourself as oh I'm a loser that is a conceptual I self yeah oh so people should just mistreat me and I don't deserve better anyway so why should I try to get a better job why should I even try to get into a relationship no one will love me and so on and so on and imagine the kind of life that could lead to but if you invest more in a self as context or at least use them interchangeably then you realize that there's a place because you're a human being you're lovable and because you're a human being you have worth the selfish context is your worth as opposed to what you are in a given moment what you've done what you haven't done how you think the world sees you and doesn't see you and that I think is part of the catch is that most of the times people will judge themselves by the conceptualize self and they will decide what is worthwhile or what's not worthwhile and whether or not they themselves have any worth because of the things that have happened to them but if you invest more in the selfish context then everyone has the same worth everyone is it seem worth no matter what you did or didn't do or whether or not you have depression or not you're all the same level of worth yes yes yes it's weird but it's cool it's good and it's a place where hopefully you can start to do the kind of self work that is deeper than just well let me change my self-esteem and that is still a conceptualized self like let me both booster my self-esteem and oh now I have high self esteem that's still a conceptualized self and what about the day when you lose that job that got you the good self-esteem or you know you gained that way back whatever it is that you establish that idea when it goes away then what do you have left will you still have your conceptual and your still have your contextual self and that self it's the same and it's the same as that person's and that person's and we're all equal and that is what self a-- skon text does is that it decrease your need to attach to a certain moment in time a certain thought a certain feeling a certain experience a certain hardship it's not you mmm it's not actually you but most of us get really inundated with the selfish content that moment of suffering oh my gosh this will never end this is horrible but you know what at some point in time you weren't suffering with us and at some point in the future you will not be suffering with us either and this is actually just a discrete moment in time whereas the u.s. context is always there it's always safe and actually that that's the you that can engage in this willingness work without being so afraid because you realize that there's this intact version of yourself that has seen you through all your ups and downs all your happy in terrible moments and is still there but even for people who would go look I don't need the woowoo I'm not ready for the whoohoo yet call me in 20 years when there's even more science to back it up I just want the hardcore science like we did that - yeah for the for the people who just go whoo tangible stuff yeah textbook black and white yeah and that really came down to values and the committed action yes yeah can you explain what those yeah so values are what we like to stand for what we want our life to stand for the things that we want people to remember us by and when you pair those with committed action then everything that you do whether it's making a goal for yourself writing something down on your to-do list deciding whether or not you're going to move forward with a certain decision or not it's all going to have context it's all going to have meaning it's all going to have a basis and then when you experience struggles in route to pursuing those values it's going to be less of a strain on you because you remember that you decided to pursue this path meaningfully but it was something that was truly important to you and so when you're feeling those moments of distress they're worth it that's right because that's who you want to be remembered for if they're in line with your values yeah it makes it easier to move through that right and oftentimes people will find themselves you know committing to goals that aren't even their own idea because of what they think society wants from them what some else wants from them and then when they reach that goal they feel empty yeah or even in the middle of pursuing that goal they encounter a problem and they say I just want to give up well why is that it's because that goal was not routed to your important values yeah and that's why that part is so important yeah this is a series that I will watch many times in my life my guess is I will watch it a maybe three or four times in the first six weeks and then I will probably it will probably be something I revisit year after year because it's so dynamic it is complex yeah but the once you can get through all the complexity sounds it sounds so hypocritical but once you get to all the complexity the simplicity yeah is there yeah you just have to like kind of bear with that complexity for a little bit until you can find the simplicity enough yeah it's kind of like you know kind of you have to find your way out of the maze yes and then you get to the end of the maze and it's just like a clear opening yeah it's kind of how it feels for me yes yes that's right it really was this series for me that speaks to everybody mm-hmm and if you sit down and intentionally watch this series it will change your life and notice I did not say I hope it will mm-hmm I did not say it could mm-hmm if you intentionally watch this series it will change that because this is this is the latest the greatest backed by science yeah for everybody and I wish everybody would watch the series intentionally I hope so and I hope it helps people because I think it's really done a lot to change the way that I approach things and I approach my work with my patience and a lot of my patients really love it it's just like a new freeing way of thinking about your life yeah it really is fantastic is there anything you want to tell the viewers about this series well act is really interesting there's a lot of different types of things that you can look for that are free that you can find resources to help you to work with Act so if you want to know more for example about ways in which you can engage in cognitive diffusion I mean there's hundreds of different techniques out there and we cover just a couple of examples today and they can do that they can Google and they can sort of see what else is out there to kind of think about how they might switch into this mode but I would say that you know even if it feels odd to you at first give it a chance because it really is a breakthrough way of thinking about you and how suffering works and what happiness really means yeah and that perhaps we've been pursuing it in the wrong way this whole time here here's what I'm requesting I don't ask a lot but watch this series and email me your takeaway mmm email me your thing and I know you'll have more than one but email me the one thing where you go whoa I never knew that's what that was in my life or I never realized I could actually have more control over the truth in my life mm-hmm control over the truth I mean that is incredible give me what that is because I'm so fascinated to see how everybody reacts to hearing this mm-hmm because what my big takeaways were will likely be different than somebody else's right and so I'm really excited to see how people are improving their lives from the information you're providing awesome I mean this is huge this is huge for me so fun yeah I love it great good great to watch this series right now you can go to med circle comm I'm Kyle Kittleson and remember if whatever you're going through you got this thanks for watching your next step is to go to med circle comm and finish watching this series there you can also access other series and get actionable advice and simple explanations continue your mental health journey at med circle comm and I'll see you there you [Music]

Channel: MedCircle

Views: 170,913

Keywords: anxiety, disorder, stress, thoughts, life, change, self, happy, happiness, acceptance, commitment, therapy, life changes, life-changer, life changer, thinking, new, disorders, help, identity, psychology, resilience, psychological, psychologically, anxiety disorder, what is anxiety, mental health, dealing with anxiety, anxiety relief, panic attack, mental illness, gad, generalized anxiety disorder, short film, documentary, interview, discussion, educational, videos, educational videos, youtube, video

Id: SJOb0hXvqjM

Length: 17min 14sec (1034 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 10 2019