Act for Psychosis Recovery ─ A Practical Manual for Group-based Interventions Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

ACT for Psychosis Recovery is the first book to provide a breakthrough, evidence-based, step-by-step approach for group work with clients suffering from psychosis. As evidenced in a study by Patricia A. Bach and Steven C. Hayes, patients with psychotic symptoms who received acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) in addition to treatment as usual showed half the rate of rehospitalization as those who did not. With this important guide, you’ll learn how a patient’s recovery can be both supported and sustained by promoting acceptance, mindfulness, and values-driven action.

The journey of personal recovery from psychosis is immensely challenging. Patients often struggle with paranoia, auditory hallucinations, difficulties with motivation, poor concentration and memory, and emotional dysregulation. In addition, families and loved ones may have trouble understanding psychosis, and stigmatizing attitudes can limit opportunity and create alienation for patients.

True recovery from psychosis means empowering patients to take charge of their lives. Rather than focusing on pathology, ACT teaches patients how to stay grounded in the present moment, disengage from their symptoms, and pursue personally meaningful lives based on their values.

In this groundbreaking book, you will learn how to facilitate ACT groups based on a central metaphor (Passengers on the Bus), so that mindfulness and values-based action are introduced in a way that is engaging and memorable. You will also find tips and strategies to help clients identify valued directions, teach clients how to respond flexibly to psychotic symptoms, thoughts, and emotions that have been barriers to living a valued life, and lead workshops that promote compassion and connection among participants.

You’ll also find tried and tested techniques for engaging people in groups, particularly those traditionally seen as “hard to reach”—people who may be wary of mental health services or experience paranoia. And finally, you’ll gain skills for engaging participants from various ethnic backgrounds.

Finding purpose and identity beyond mental illness is an important step in a patient’s journey toward recovery. Using the breakthrough approach in this book, you can help clients gain the insight needed to achieve lasting well-being.

Emma K. O’Donoghue, DClinPsy, is a senior clinical psychologist working in community psychosis settings in South London. She has a longstanding interest in using ACT approaches for people experiencing first episode and established psychosis and those with bipolar affective disorder. She coordinated a recent randomized controlled trial of ACT workshops for service users and caregivers in community psychosis settings and is involved in working with service users to facilitate ACT interventions. O’Donoghue regularly trains psychologists in ACT for psychosis interventions and teaches on London psychology masters and doctoral courses in ACT approaches.

Eric M. J. Morris, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and director of the La Trobe University Psychology Clinic, Melbourne, Australia. Morris previously worked as the psychology lead for early intervention for psychosis at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, UK. He has twenty years’ experience treating people with psychosis, and their families, using psychological therapies. Morris completed a PhD at King's College London, researching acceptance and commitment therapy as an individual- and group-based intervention for people recovering from psychosis, and as workplace resilience training for mental health workers. Morris is a coeditor of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Mindfulness for Psychosis and coauthor of the self-help guide, ACTivate Your Life: Using Acceptance and Mindfulness to Build a Life That Is Rich, Fulfilling and Fun.

Joseph E. Oliver, PhD, is a clinical psychologist who has been working within the UK National Health Service for the past ten years, specializing in the treatment of psychosis. He runs a private ACT-based consultancy in London, UK, that offers training, supervision and psychological therapy. He is also chair of the national BABCP ACT committee, which promotes and develops ACT within the UK. Oliver is coeditor of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Mindfulness for Psychosis and coauthor of the self-help guide, ACTivate Your Life: Using Acceptance and Mindfulness to Build a Life That Is Rich, Fulfilling and Fun.

Louise C. Johns, DPhil, is a consultant clinical psychologist and BABCP accredited cognitive behavioral therapist. She works in the Oxford Early Intervention in Psychosis Service, overseeing the delivery and evaluation of psychological interventions for clients and their caregivers, including the training and supervision of staff. She is also an honorary senior research fellow in the department of psychiatry, University of Oxford, and an associate member of the Oxford Cognitive Therapy Centre. She is coeditor of the book, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Mindfulness for Psychosis.

Foreword writer Steven C. Hayes, PhD, is Nevada Foundation Professor in the department of psychology at the University of Nevada, Reno. An author of forty-one books and more than 575 scientific articles, he has shown in his research how language and thought leads to human suffering, and codeveloped acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), a powerful therapy method that is useful in a wide variety of areas.