“If we add up all those humans who are or have been depressed, addicted, anxious, angry, self-destructive, alienated, worried, compulsive, workaholic, insecure, painfully shy, divorced, avoidant of intimacy, and stressed, we are compelled to reach a startling conclusion, namely, that psychological suffering is a basic characteristic of human life.” SufferingHumanMental Health Book:Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: An Experiential Approach to Behavior Change Source: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: An Experiential Approach to Behavior Change
“It is not possible to eliminate suffering by eliminating pain. Human existence contains inevitable challenges. People we love will be injured, and people close to us will die—indeed, we are aware from an early age that in time we all will die. We will also be sick. Functions will diminish. Friends and lovers will betray us. Pain is unavoidable, and (owing to our symbolic inclinations) we readily remember this pain and can bring it into consciousness at any given moment. This progression means that human beings consciously expose themselves to inordinate amounts of pain—despite our considerable abilities to control its sources in the external environment. Even so, great pain is not in itself a sufficient cause for true human suffering. For that to occur, symbolic behavior needs to be taken a bit further.” SufferingTherapyBehaviorism Book:Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: An Experiential Approach to Behavior Change Source: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: An Experiential Approach to Behavior Change
“ACT psychology is a psychology of the normal. A lot of the psychologies that are out there are built on the psychology of the abnormal. We have all these syndromal boxes that we can put people in and so forth. The actual evidence on syndromes is not very good. There's no specific biological marker for any of the things that you see talked about in the media. Even things like schizophrenia - there's no specific and sensitive biological markers for these things. There may be some abnormal processes involved, but vastly more of human suffering comes from normal processes that run away from us.” PeopleRunningSufferingPsychologyEvidenceVery GoodSensitiveRunning AwaySchizophreniaHuman Suffering Author:Steven C. Hayes
“Almost all people suffer some form of intense inner pain at some times in their lives. The suffering might be depression, anxiety, substance abuse, or suicidal thoughts and it results from the battles we wage against our thoughts as we futilely try to get rid of our historie.” PeopleTryingMightPainFormSufferingResultsSelf EsteemBattleAnxietyAbuseIntenseEsteemSubstanceOur ThoughtsSuicidalSuicidal ThoughtsSubstance Abuse Author:Steven C. Hayes
