Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
In The ACT Matrix, editors Kevin Polk and Benjamin Schoendorff simplify the entire ACT model into two basic distinctions. The first two chapters of the book, written by the editors and collaborators, summarize the
matrix diagram by discriminating between sensory and mental experiencing and between moving toward versus away from your values. These are
well-written and entertaining. I was unfamiliar with the matrix, and after
reading these introductory paragraphs, I had a good feel for what the work
would look and feel like with a client in the therapy room.
The remaining chapters of the book apply to specific settings, presenting problems and populations. I believe that you could skip to whatever
work you most commonly do, or read straight througheither would be
useful! These chapters are written by practitioners who are experts in each
of the areas, and the subtle details of how the matrix can be used differently
with each issue really shine through. I believe this will be a great addition
to many office bookshelves, and I would say to pick up a copy right away!
Amy R. Murrell, PhD, associate professor at the University
of North Texas
AC
T
m Atr i x
The
Edited by
KEviN L.
PoLK, PhD
BENjAmiN
SchoENDorFF,
mA, mSc
Context Press
Publishers Note
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the
subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in
rendering psychological, financial, legal, or other professional services. If expert assistance or
counseling is needed, the services of a competent professional should be sought.
The Bulls Eye and Join the DOTS from ACT MADE SIMPLE by Russ Harris,
copyright 2009 Russ Harris. Used by permission of New Harbinger Publications, Inc.
Distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books
Copyright 2014 by Kevin L. Polk and Benjamin Schoendorff
New Harbinger Publications, Inc.
5674 Shattuck Avenue
Oakland, CA 94609
www.newharbinger.com
All Rights Reserved
Acquired by Tesilya Hanauer; Cover design by Sara Christian;
Edited by Jasmine Star; Text design by Tracy Marie Carlson;
Indexed by James Minkin
CONT ENTS
Introduction: What the Matrix Is All About 1
Kevin Polk
PART 1
Understanding the Matrix
1 The Psychological Flexibility Warm-Up 7
Kevin Polk
the Matrix 15
Benjamin Schoendorff, Mark Webster, and Kevin Polk
PART 2
Populations and Settings
3 ACT for the Masses: Using the Matrix with the
General Public41
Aisling Curtin
Relationship-Oriented ACT57
Benjamin Schoendorff and Marie-France Bolduc
and PTSD147
Kevin Polk and Mary Alyce Burkhart
Conceptualization181
Benjamin Schoendorff
PART 3
The Matrix Outside the Box
12 The Matrix Goes to School: Promoting
Index257
vi
Foreword
seen. It was active, it was vital, and, to my delight, it was intently focused
on growing rich and meaningful lives. PTSD treatment can be pretty
grim, but there was nothing grim about this treatment. Hard thoughts,
emotions, and memories were all things to be sorted and noticed on the
way to a richer and more meaningful life. It was simple, and it was brilliant. The students loved it. One of them called it ACT Gone Wild,
and the name stuck.
Riding with Kevin back to his hotel, I knew that I wanted to see
these ideas loosed on the ACT community of scientists and practitioners. I asked Kevin what he was doing in July. When he gave the slightest
indication that July might be open, I told him that he had to come to the
upcoming Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS) World
Conference in Houston. This work had to be moved beyond the VA
Medical Center to the broader treatment development community.
Clinicians needed simple, useful tools that could help them understand
and assist clients. With the right audience, I knew that this work would
spur wonderful innovations and applications.
Back in those days, the assembly of the conference program was far
less formal than it is now. I recall putting some early programs together
in a hotel room, a couple of months before the conference, with paper
submissions spread all across the floor. I think it had become a bit more
organized by 2007, but not a lot. I called the ACBS office, while sitting
in the car with Kevin, and told Emily Rodriguez, the executive director,
that we just had to get this guy on the program.
Kevin hesitated. From my living room to the world conference in a
couple hours time was quite a leap! However, I am not easily dissuaded.
I poked, prodded, begged, told him how important it could be, and
pointed out how many people could be helped. We need you! was my
message. Loud and clear! As I recall, I got a tentative yes that day and a
definite yes soon after.
As fate would have it, some other things were canceled during
Kevins first ACBS conference presentation, so he ended up with a big
room for his international unveiling of ACT Gone Wild. People loved it.
In the intervening years, Kevin and his partner in the development of
this work, Jerold Hambright, along with other colleagues, continued to
innovate and refine. ACT Gone Wild became the iView and then,
eventually, the matrix. What was created was quickly given away. The
result has been an explosion of work with the matrix all over the planet.
viii
Foreword
ix
I NT RODUC T ION
The matrix is an interactive diagram for increasing psychological flexibility in almost any context at any time. It is a diagram of the process of
acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), referred to as acceptance
and commitment training when working with the general public. People
interact with the diagram and experience having thoughts, feelings, and
urges that they would rather not have while choosing to take action
toward who or what is important. You, the reader, will discover that
while using the matrix to influence others, you have only one agenda:
increasing psychological flexibility and valued living. The matrix is for
sharing, and its best learned with the notion that you will teach others
how to share it with others. The matrix works best if its paid forward.
So after going to one conference and reading what we could about ACT,
my colleagues Jerold Hambright and Mark Websterand I began to use
the approach. By 2009 I had read pretty much every book and article
about ACT, participated in well over one thousand sessions of ACT, and
engaged in hundreds of in-depth conversations. I love to create simple
diagrams, and I worked the diagrams all the while.
Finally, in 2009, I was almost finished reading the latest ACT book
when, in my minds eye, I could see that ACT boiled down to two sorting
tasks: noticing the difference between sensory and mental experiencing;
and noticing the difference between how it feels to move toward important stuff and how it feels to move away from unwanted mental experiencing. I stood up, walked over to one of my whiteboards, and drew the
two lines of the diagram, with Five-Senses Experiencing at the top,
Mental Experiencing at the bottom, Toward to the right, and Away
to the left. Noticing the differences is where the lines cross.
Five-Senses
Experiencing
Away
Noticing the
differences
Mental
Experiencing
Toward
PA RT 1
CH A P T ER 1
This short chapter introduces the matrix diagram. Its a warm-up for
psychological flexibility and presents the skills that can help you become
a great matrix practitioner.
Five-Senses Experiencing
Figure 1.1. The basic matrix diagram. Try drawing it on a piece of paper
for clients.
pen, smell the pen, and, now that youre in your mind, taste the pen all
you want.
Now notice if theres a difference between your five-senses experiencing of the pen and your mental experiencing of it. Just notice if theres
a difference.
Noticing Differences
Throughout this book, in one way or another youll practice noticing
these two differences: the difference between your sensory and mental
experiencing, and the difference between how it feels to move toward
and move away.
All of us move within the matrix all of the time.
Sometimes were in our heads, toward the bottom of the diagram.
Sometimes were more connected with the five senses. Sometimes were
moving toward, and sometimes were moving away. Knowing where you
are on the diagram at any moment is sort of coolsomething youll
experience for yourself as you read on.
10
Getting Unstuck
Getting unstuck from mental experiencing is the purpose of the matrix
diagram and noticing the two differences.
The primary reason for noticing the two differences is that noticing
requires no language, and language is the stuff of mental experiencing.
Of course we cant completely free ourselves from languagenor should
we. Its useful, and wed lose our way in a hurry if we completely disconnected from it. Instead, we notice the difference between mental and
sensory experiencing and learn to have a choice.
Learning to have that choice is the essence of psychological
flexibility.
people to do sorting, and this sorting will help them notice the
differences.
Essentially, we all tell stories. Those stories may be about what we
had for breakfast, where we went on vacation last year, or what we plan
to do this weekend. Each is a story that can be sorted into the matrix.
Part of each story includes the five senses: what was seen, heard, felt,
smelled, and tasted. If you go to a restaurant, there will be elements of
each of the five senses in the story of the trip to the restaurant. Each
story also has mental aspects: thoughts, emotions, and urges. The story
will also include actions taken both toward and away. As people tell a
storyany storythey can be invited to sort the elements of the story
into the matrix.
We have people do the sorting so they can practice noticing the differences. In other words, to do the sorting, the person steps back and
notices the differences between elements of the story, sort of like diagramming the story. Every act of sorting requires noticing the
differences.
Yes, And?
Sometimes people get hooked into telling their story and forget to do the
sorting. At these times, we use the gentle art of Yes, and? to draw them
back into sorting and noticing the differences. For example, someone
might be excitedly telling you about an emotionally charged event that
happened last week. You can see and hear that shes stuck in her mental
processing of the story and could probably use a break toward flexibility.
You simply say something like, Yes, and where would you sort that last
bit you were talking about?
Obviously, you dont interrupt every story this way, but if it seems
someone needs a little nudge toward psychological flexibility, a quick
Yes, and? can get the job done nicely.
Verbal Aikido
With Yes, and? we enter the world of what some call verbal aikido. If
you arent familiar with physical aikido, its a martial art that involves
12
Noticing Hooks
To move the verbal aikido practice into life, the matrix practitioner often
uses a simple homework assignment that involves noticing hooks. Hooks
are those moments we all have when we quickly get emotionally charged.
Maybe a car cuts you off, maybe someone says something unkind, maybe
you see a beautiful person. There are all kinds of emotional hooks that
we each have every day, and each provides an opportunity to practice a
touch of verbal aikido.
The hook gets noticed, and then the next action is noticed. Inherent
in noticing the hook and noticing what is done next is noticing the effect
of the hook. Did the person expend much energy? Did the person fight
against the hook or carry it along? What came next, a toward move or an
away move? These questions are not necessarily asked directly; theyre
inherent in the noticing.
Conclusion
If the only thing you learn from this book is the following summary and
you practice what it teaches you, youll probably become a great matrix
practitioner:
1. Notice the difference
experiencing.
between
sensory
and
mental
13
References
Hayes, S. (with Smith, S.). (2005). Get out of your mind and into your life: The
new acceptance and commitment therapy. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger.
14
CH A P T ER 2
The matrix is a simple way to help people to adopt a point of view that
enhances psychological flexibility. Well briefly show you that point of
view and then give you our understanding of some of whats going on
behind the scenes of the matrix. Its the stuff of basic human learning,
including the learning of language and thinking. Along the way, well
ease into some technical language to sketch out what we believe goes on
under the hood of this deceptively simple vehicle for getting people on
track to psychological flexibility and a valued life. The matrix is a tool of
human liberation that rests on recent advances in the understanding of
learning and cognition, which underlie acceptance and commitment
training and therapy.
At its essence the matrix is a diagram that prompts the noticing of
two differences: the difference between five-senses experiencing and
mental experiencing (the vertical line of the matrix), and the difference
between how it feels to move toward stuff thats important and how it
feels to move away from stuff inside, like anxiety or guilt (the horizontal
line of the matrix). People are simply invited to notice these two
differences. Most people can readily notice these differences, but for
some folks its more difficult. Why someone would have trouble noticing
the differences goes to the heart of whats going on behind the scenes of
the matrix. In this chapter well lift the curtain and give you a quick run-
through of what science currently has to say about human learning and
cognition. We wont be going deep into the science because that isnt the
purpose of the chapter or this book. Rather, well give you some understandable highlights that might help you use the matrix more effectively.
Along the way, we hope to give you a better sense of what makes the
matrix an effective tool in promoting psychological flexibility.
Basic Assumptions
All science stands upon basic assumptions. For example, we can look at
life and the universe as being like a machine, and a set of mathematical
equations can describe that machine and how its component parts interact. Many of our Western notions of science are built on some variation
of the view that the universe is like a machine. However, theres more
than one way to look at things, and the scientific foundation of the
matrix is built on a completely different set of basic assumptions. Put
simply, humans (and living organisms in general) are not machines.
Mathematic equations dont fully do the trick when it comes to explaining behaviorsthe things that make up a life.
So instead of basing our science on a mechanistic view, we look at
how a person behaves in the situation the person is in at the time. We
look at the whole picture, rather than simply at how the constituent parts
interact. You can do this right now. Simply observe yourself reading these
words in whatever situation you find yourself. Maybe youre on a bus,
maybe in a library, maybe in your house. You can look at the act (reading)
in context (the situation youre in).
The matrix is an application of functional contextualism (Hayes,
1993), an approach that seeks to identify what works in particular contexts. In functional contextualism, the concern isnt about how things
are in themselves or whats true independent of what works to attain
particular goals. Whats true isnt how things really are, but what works
in a given situation. This makes functional contextualism particularly
16
whats true for each person; in other words, a model that puts psychological flexibility center stage.
<- D1 ->
AWAY
<- D2 ->
MENTAL EXPERIENCING
TOWARD
Getting Stuck
When people enter therapy, theyre stuck, which is another way of
saying inflexible. People can get stuck in all sorts of ways: They get stuck
because they cant imagine options other than moving away from
unwanted inner stuff. They get stuck because whats important to them
is obscured by their struggle against unwanted inner stuff. They get stuck
because they focus exclusively on unwanted inner stuff. They get stuck
19
Getting Unstuck
Consistent practice of the matrix point of view gets people noticing
the discriminations that will make a difference in their lives. Think of it
as stretching exercises that will gradually build flexibilitya yoga of the
mindthat requires deliberate, repeated practice. People get unstuck by
practicing noticing the two basic discriminations across their varied life
situations. As a result, they become increasingly able to choose actions
that move them toward whats important to them in life, rather than
remaining stuck in trying to move away from unwanted inner stuff. They
become more psychologically flexible, and their actions move them
toward better relationships and more satisfying integration into their
community. This ensures that their toward moves continue over time. In
this way, the gains of treatment are consolidated over the long term.
20
Jack, Amy, Mike, Bob, and John and Jill all get hooked by internal
stuff they dont want. When their hooks show up, they bite and engage
in away moves. Technically speaking, theyre behaving under the control
of aversive antecedents. Aversives are things that people (and organisms
in general) move away from. For Jack and the others, these thoughts,
feelings, and sensations have (in certain contexts) acquired controlling
functions over their behavior through a process known as derived relational responding. According to relational frame theory (RFT; Hayes,
Barnes-Holmes, & Roche, 2001), derived relational responding is the
result of the way our minds transform five-senses experience into mental
experience. In this transformation, mental experience can acquire some
of the functions of five-senses experience. For example, a five-senses
experience of a charging bear naturally makes people run away. Through
derived relational responding, the mere thought of a charging bear can
make people run away or engage in other actions meant to move them
away from that thought and the fear it elicits. Because of derived relational responding, people react to the derived functions of things rather
than simply responding to the direct functions. Thats what we call
getting hooked by mental experience. When hooked, people have a hard
time noticing the difference between five-
senses and mental
experience.
Derived relational responding is a very complex process, and one
thats largely involuntary. It gets going as children learn language, and as
it does so, it not only relates five-senses experience to mental experience,
but also relates all types of inner experience among themselves: thoughts,
feelings, sensations, images, and memories. Thats why people try to
move away from the feeling of fear, even absent the thought of a charging
bear. Worse, an action or a comforting thought that serves to move away
from the initial thoughts and fears may come to evoke these thoughts
and fears. Derived relational responding can produce so many hooks that
people can easily get lost. Once people learn to speak, mental experience
largely dominates over five-senses experience. As a result, we live mostly
in our heads.
When people get hooked by the inside stuff they dont want, they
naturally try to move away from it. What they do to move away often
works in the short term. For example, Amy feels relief when she moves
away from a person she wanted to meet. This makes it likely that shell
do it againat the cost of her long-term life goals. In technical terms,
21
vulnerable to getting stuck again. This is most clearly seen in people with
addictive behaviors (see chapter 5), but it occurs much more broadly.
People who have been reinforced for moving away in this fashion are
liable to get stuck againeither in the same place or in some other
placewhenever aversives show up again.
The matrix orients toward a different kind of treatment. The goal
isnt removing aversives; its training the ability to choose toward moves
in the presence of these aversives and to notice what happens. This is
quite close to the definition of psychological flexibility youll find in ACT
books. Psychological flexibility is key to long-
term change and, we
believe, to improving the effectiveness of therapy and reducing the high
relapse rates that stand witness to the failure of the traditional model.
Actions under appetitive control are long-term patterns of behavior
that are, for the most part, reinforced by the social community. This has
two benefits for the therapist. First, peoples toward behavior stabilizes
over time, and they engage in fewer of the away moves that can lead to
impulsivity and a chaotic lifestyle. Second, the gains of treatment are
maintained in the community after clients stop attending sessions, drastically reducing the probability of relapse.
23
A Word of Warning
Some clients may give the answers they think the practitioner wants
to hear. This is known as pliance. Be on the lookout for it, as it will get
people even more hooked and keep them from responding from the perspective of their sorting. Reinforce the behavior of sorting rather than
particular responses or ways of sorting. The matrix practitioner seeks to
systematically reinforce noticing behavior while avoiding punishing any
kind of sorting. Gently nudging toward broader noticing is as simple as
saying, Yes, and, with the sentence being completed by an invitation
to further discriminate. This is done by training the clients attention to
a different aspect of the matrix than the one theyre currently noticingor hooked by. So in the example discussed in the previous section,
the practitioner was in effect saying, Yes, you noticed drinking as a
toward move, and did you ever notice drinking as an away move?
Hooks
The matrix practitioner invites the client to discriminate and track
verbal behavior and its consequences by asking if a particular verbal
experience works as a hook for the client and inviting her to notice what
she does next. This move involves two steps. First, a practice of D1 is
contained in the invitation to notice the hook because the client will
then notice mental experience as distinct from five-senses experience.
The second part of the question in turn is an invitation to track the
consequences of behavior (including verbal behavior). This move contains two important moments of what is known in ACT as defusion:
distancing from content (antecedents), and noticing the functions
26
Whats Important
The practitioner can also invite clients to discriminate what the
person they want to be would do. This allows clients to contact their
values and identify actions congruent with those values. When clients
practice noticing toward moves in the moment, they increase their ability
to interact with values as ongoing patterns of behavior, rather than as
purely verbal statements. Furthermore, the link between values and
actions helps derive reinforcing functions for their toward moves. This
promotes derived relational responses under appetitive control, making it
more probable that clients will derive further toward moves.
For example, if John invited Jill to go out for a weekly date night, that
would be a move toward being the husband he wants to be. Jill might
identify being empathic and listening to John as moves toward being the
wife she wants to be. The practitioner reinforces the derivation of these
reinforcing functions by asking clients to link toward moves with the
values they serve. The practitioner also encourages clients to notice,
through their five senses, the effect of their toward moves on their relationships and their lives.
28
29
Figure 2.2. Some possible derived functions working the left side. Arrows
in boxes represent the direction of derived functions.
After being invited to notice whether she made the lunches on the right
side (a toward move) or on the left (an away move) over the coming
week, Jill reported noticing that she prepared them on the right side
three nights out of five. In other words, verbal appetitive functions had
transferred to behavior previously under verbal aversive control.
By putting suffering and values (the lower quadrants) in a frame of
coordination and creating a frame of hierarchy with values at the top,
the matrix can help the appetitive functions of values transform the
functions of aversive private experience, enhancing acceptance and
establishing aversive private experience as a possible antecedent of committed action. For example, after some matrix work, Amys uncomfortable feelings and self-doubting thoughts in social situations served to
alert her to the importance of relationships and became cues for striking
up conversations. Derivation had transferred new functions to her private
experience of shyness. The practitioner can actively promote such
framing by asking who or what is important behind the clients suffering.
ACT manuals provide numerous examples of how to link suffering with
values in effective ways. (The two derivations described here are illustrated in figure 2.3.)
Figure 2.3. Some possible derived functions working the right side.
Arrows in boxes represent the direction of derived functions.
31
32
TOWARD MOVES
(PROCESS)
ME
AWAY
WHAT I DONT WANT
TO THINK OR FEEL
TOWARD
NOTICING
CONTENT:
thoughts, memories,
emotions, images, stories,
bodily sensations,
feelings, urges
WHO OR WHAT IS
IMPORTANT TO ME
CONTENT:
who and what
I choose to hold
as important
in my life
MENTAL EXPERIENCING
(PROCESS)
Figure 2.4. The matrix and the three senses of self. Self-as-content is
coded in gray, self-as-process in black, and self-as-context lies in the
center (Me Noticing).
When Amy meets new people, she gets hooked by the thought People
wont talk to me. The fundamental move in the matrix, which is always
implicit in the D2 discrimination (toward versus away moves), is to take
the person out of the experience and establish a point of view thats
external to the situation being describedthat is, unhooked. The discrimination between hooked and unhooked is D1, and its implicit in D2.
Making a discrimination is the act of an observer. In such moves,
perspective-taking framing is at work: people are taking perspective on
their experience and behavior from the point of view of I-here-now
noticing me-there-then, even when just noticing that their experience
of the moment, as verbal behavior, always lags a few milliseconds behind
their direct sensory experience.
33
COMMITTED
ACTION
NONACCEPTANCE
AWAY
TOWARD
FUSION
VALUES
SELF-AS-CONTEXT
MENTAL EXPERIENCING
Figure 2.5. The matrix (in black) and hexaflex (in gray).
The six hexaflex processes are commonly presented as middle-level
terms that dont precisely map out onto basic behavioral processes. They
are shorthand, offered as tools to orient practitioners within a seemingly
complex and counterintuitive model: functional contextualism. Yet
committing to terms such as acceptance, defusion, contact with the
present moment, and values can cause difficulties. For example, it can be
challenging to give basic process accounts of the terms, leading to a
potential disconnect between basic science and intervention procedures.
A related difficulty concerns research design. It can be exceedingly challenging to tease out, for example, defusion from acceptance, especially
based on behavioral signs. As an example of the problem, defused talk,
a measure used in some studies, may not be a reliable indicator of
defusion.
35
We may also become wedded to our terms and thus lose flexibility.
There are a number of social contexts in which the terms of the hexaflex
carry undesirable functions for the purpose of promoting derived relational responding under appetitive control. In some countries and cultures, the term values has a socially conservative connotation; in
others, acceptance carries functions of resignation. We may not be at
our most effective if, right after mentioning values or acceptance, we
have to specify what these terms dont mean.
The strength of the matrix diagram doesnt reside in the terms used
to establish the point of view. These are largely interchangeable. This
book contains numerous examples of practitioners in various settings
changing the terms associated with the quadrants or the discriminations. Its strength is that from the get-go it frames the work of both practitioners and clients in a functional contextual worldview, thereby
potentially preventing one of the dangers that come with the growing
popularity of ACT: the use of its exercises and procedures as borrowed
technological fixes in the absence of a functional contextual approach.
Conclusion
As practitioners, we offer this chapter as our current understanding of
the basic processes underlying the use and effectiveness of the matrix
diagram as a tool to promote behavior under appetitive control, also
known as psychological flexibility or valued living. We believe that one
of the central modes of action of the matrix is rooted in the way it promotes specific forms of derived relational responding through relational
framing, particularly perspective taking, or deictic framing. Through the
new derived relational responses the matrix affords, behavior that has
been largely under the control of aversive antecedents can gradually
move under the control of appetitive consequences.
Multiple exemplar training and shaping are at the heart of using the
matrix effectively. Adopting the matrix point of view provides practice in
perspective taking through the behavior of sorting. The matrix puts the
behaviors of noticing and taking perspective at the heart of clinical work,
thereby facilitating new and more workable derived relational responses.
It is our hope that this chapter will be of use to practitioners, and
that it might inspire basic researchers to start playing around with the
matrix diagram to illuminate it more fully at the basic process level.
References
Hayes, S. C. (1993). Analytic goals and the variety of scientific contextualism.
In S. C. Hayes, L. Hayes, H. W. Reese, & T. R. Sarbin (Eds.), Varieties of
scientific contextualism (pp. 1127). Reno: Context Press.
Hayes, S. C., Barnes-Holmes, D., & Roche, B. (Eds.). (2001). Relational frame
theory: A post-Skinnerian account of human language and cognition. New
York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum.
Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D., Bunting, K., Twohig, M., & Wilson, K. G. (2004).
What is acceptance and commitment therapy? In S. C. Hayes & K. D.
Strosahl (Eds.), A practical guide to acceptance and commitment therapy (pp.
329). New York: Springer.
37
38
PA RT 2
CH A P T ER 3
The matrix can be a very powerful and accessible tool for introducing
the general public to functional contextual frameworks. This chapter
aims to provide guidance to clinicians, coaches, educators, and facilitators on how to use the matrix as a means of introducing the general
public to key elements of acceptance and commitment therapyor
acceptance and commitment training, as it is referred to when working
with the general public.
A key element of using the matrix with the general public (hereafter
referred to as people) is to become aware of our own toward and away
moves in communicating these concepts. One of my away moves is to
overly complicate the conceptual framework, and one of my toward
moves is to speak about this approach in a way thats readily accessible to
people with no preexisting knowledge of functional contextual concepts.
So my commitment to you in this chapter is to speak to you, as much as
possible, in the same way that I would speak to the general public. I hope
this will best inspire you to get out there and do this much-needed and
meaningful work.
ACT for the Masses: Using the Matrix with the General Public
43
I am living fully
by my values.
Work/
Education
Health/
Personal growth
Relationships
ACT for the Masses: Using the Matrix with the General Public
Valued
Domains:
Thinking:
Family
Intimate
relationships
Substances/self-harm/other:
Parenting
Away
Unwanted Mental or Inner Experiences
Troublesome thoughts:
Toward
Work/
Education
Recreation
Friends
Education
Work
Recreation
Spirituality
Citizenship
Health/
Personal growth
Health
Relationships
Mental
Experiencing
Inner World
and My chapter will probably be the one that needs the most editingif they
even accept it. The key is to model awareness of and willingness to share
whatever my experience is, even when its difficult.
Next, I ask participants to look for the top three emotions that they
get hooked by or entangled in trying to avoid in the valued domain
theyre working with. I use a simple definition of emotions: Emotions
are generally words that can sum up how were feeling overall and arent
tied to a particular part of the body. Examples would be sad or anxious.
Finally, I ask participants to identify the top three bodily sensations they
most want to get rid of in that same valued domain, since these are often
regarded as inner experiencing in matrix work.
Initially, people often get thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations
mixed up. Our job is to reinforce their willingness to share and then help
them more accurately label what they shared as a thought, emotion, or
bodily sensation. Labeling accurately is important because participants
will later learn different ACT strategies they can apply depending on
whether theyre struggling with a thought, a feeling, or a bodily sensation. I always allow enough time for participants to jot down their top
three unwanted experiences in each category. Parsing in this way keeps
people from getting thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations mixed up.
Time permitting, we might look at unwanted urges and memories. It can
be helpful to use different colors of pens for each category of unwanted
mental experiencing to underscore the differences.
46
ACT for the Masses: Using the Matrix with the General Public
guys of being lazy. Maybe its just that youre playing a rigged
game.
2. In general, when you use these strategies rigidly or excessively, do
they make your unwanted mental experiences better or worse? The
answer is usually worse.
3. In general, when you use these strategies rigidly or excessively, do you
move closer to the bulls-eye or farther away? The answer is typically farther away.
At this point, we look at the importance of recognizing that these
strategies arent workable, and I explain that the matrix is a tool to help
us check in with our current strategies and assess their relative effectiveness. This is a means of using the matrix to illustrate the ACT process of
creative hopelessness (Hayes, Strosahl, & Wilson, 2011).
I also explain that the matrix and various ACT strategies are tools
to help us accomplish two things: to learn strategies to manage unwanted
mental experiences and unworkable strategies more effectively (the left
side of the matrix); and to identify the people, relationships, and things
that matter most to us as well as to take action to move toward the bulls-
eye in the areas that matter most (the right side of the matrix).
48
ACT for the Masses: Using the Matrix with the General Public
Cultivating Mindfulness
At this point, I generally introduce mindfulness exercises, as I find
them a useful means of helping people connect to the principles of ACT
and the matrix. Participants become more aware of their habitual
thoughts, emotions, bodily sensations, and behavioral patterns in both
their internal and external worlds. This allows us to check in on these
processes from a vantage of workability. The underlying question is
Does engaging in this pattern and acting in this way help me move
toward the bulls-eye, or does it take me farther away? Here are some
suggestions for guided mindfulness exercises that can fulfill this
function.
Watching reactions to thoughts. Gently become aware of any thoughts
that might arise in the form of judgments, evaluations, and comparisons in
your daily life. Imagine that youre watching a video of yourself as you become
hooked by these thoughts, and simply notice whether you engage in actions
that help bring you closer to who and where you want to be or whether you
engage in actions that take you further away.
Watching reactions to emotions. Notice any difficult or unwanted emotions that might arise within you. When these emotions arise, we generally go
into one of two modes: avoidance mode, or an allowing, compassionate mode.
If youre willing and choose to do so, Id like to invite you to connect to the
actions you engage in when youre in avoidance mode. Are these actions that
help bring you closer to who and where you want to be, or do they take you
further away? Rest in the knowledge that the vast majority of us engage in
actions that take us further away when were in the midst of avoidance mode.
49
Now notice any moments, no matter how brief, when you brought a more
compassionate and allowing approach to your experience. Simply notice
whether, in these moments, you were moving closer to or further away from
who and where you want to be.
Cultivating self-compassion. Id like to invite the you that is right here right
now to imagine looking into your eyes in a moment of vulnerability earlier in
your life. Simply notice what you can see. Do you see sadness, fear, regret,
disappointment, guilt, resentment, or some other emotion? From the vantage
point of the you that is right here right now, looking back to that you in that
moment of difficulty, do you see yourself doing things that brought you closer
to who and where you want to be, or do you see yourself doing things that took
you further away? Rest in the knowledge that the vast majority of us, myself
included, see ourselves doing things that take us further away, that this is part
of being human, and we are still worthy of love and connection.
Cultivating committed action. Often, when we feel strong unwanted or
difficult emotions, theres a reality gapa discrepancy between what we want
and what we have in our lives. As best you can, bring to mind a moment
when you felt a reality gap. Choose a moment that feels okay for you to look
at in this context. (You can repeat this exercise with more painful reality gaps
as you learn and integrate these skills.) In this moment, Id like to invite the
you that is right here right now to imagine asking the you in that reality gap
What is it that you need? Simply listen and breathe (Pause and repeat
the question twice.) See if you can extend some small gift of kindness and
compassion to yourself exactly as you are. Now connect to one small thing
that you can do in the next couple of days to help you move closer to who and
where you want to be. Notice what difference this small action might make for
you and the people, relationships, and things that matter most to you.
Cultivating Defusion
The matrix and its primary functional discriminations can also aid in
gaining a functional understanding of how each of the six core ACT processes work. Here again, the key is using examples and illustrations that
are personally relevant, humorous, and memorable. For example, with
regard to defusion, I ask participants to come up with a couple of examples
of thoughts they might get hooked by and what their toward and away
moves might look like on a video camera. Once we have two examples, I
50
ACT for the Masses: Using the Matrix with the General Public
offer to demonstrate a defusion strategy for each example and invite participants to choose which ones Ill demonstrate. Generally, participants
choose to have me sing one of the thoughts to the tune of Happy
Birthday and to say the other in the voice of a cartoon character.
Common thoughts that people get hooked by include Im too anxious,
I might panic, and Im not confident enough to do that. For each unhelpful
thought, the toward move would be engaging in the feared action if
doing so is consistent with the persons values, and the away move would
be distracting by doing an activity not guided by values or opting out of
a values-consistent activity.
I demonstrate this by role-playing Ann, whose anxiety is a barrier to
going out, and Mary, whose lack of confidence is a barrier to going out.
As Ann, I might pretend to be the Roadrunner and bleat, Im too
anxious; I might panic! in a high-pitched voice while running across the
room and saying, Beep beep! This generally gets people laughing. I
then say that using this defusion strategy makes Ann laugh too, and she
feels so much better that she decides not to go out. Instead, she stays at
home and spends the evening surfing the Internet.
As Mary, I might sing the thought Im not confident enough to do that
to the tune of Happy Birthday. I then say that after using this defusion
strategy Mary feels even worse and less confident than she did before.
However, this strategy gives her a chance to connect to her values, and
she decides to go out anyway because its a move toward her values.
I then ask who did defusion from an ACT perspective. Was it Ann,
who felt much better but didnt engage in a toward move, or was it Mary,
who felt worse but engaged in a toward move anyway? People almost
always get this and realize that from an ACT perspective, its all about
living betterengaging in more toward movesrather than feeling better
by numbing or moving away from unwanted thoughts and feelings.
Although I might give people handouts with a variety of strategies for
each of the six ACT processes, I find that demonstrating defusion in this
way often stays in peoples minds because these strategies are a bit on the
wacky side.
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ACT for the Masses: Using the Matrix with the General Public
also when the matrix is used in a large group. Verbal processes such as
judgment, reason giving, evaluations, and comparisons become evident.
Supplementary metaphorical and experiential exercises can be used
in conjunction with the matrix to illustrate relational frame theory (RFT;
Hayes, Barnes-Holmes, & Roche, 2001). I generally do this work by
looking at how words have the capacity to make both our past and our
future very much alive in the present. I find it important to look at both
the ways in which language works well (e.g., we are able to read directions and understand warnings whether in written or auditory form) and
the ways in which it leads to suffering (e.g., constant comparisons and
how a single aspect of our context can remind us of a time when we felt
incredibly sad or anxious). I give personal examples of comparisons that
Im making in that moment. In any given room, I can notice people who
I believe to be more intelligent or attractive than I am, or who probably
have a better relationship history. In fact, Im willing to bet that you,
reading this chapter now, fit into at least one of those categories.
Unfortunately, youre probably so busy comparing yourself unfavorably to
others that you cant fully connect with that. We know from RFT that
values and vulnerabilities are two sides of the same coin. So with language we have the ability to make contact with both incredibly painful
and extremely pleasant elements simultaneously.
To show how randomly applicable language can be and how anything can become bad, I often share a personal story. Its about how Im
not married, and if I ever were to get married, even to someone I deeply
care about and could see myself spending my life with, I know for certain
that on that day I would think of my brother Shane, who died tragically
almost fifteen years ago. Id think about what age he would be, whether
he would have a partner, and how he would have felt on that day. And I
know that in that moment, I would feel his loss afresh and experience a
wave of sadness.
Even though I have the capacity to read directions, follow instructions, and book flights for conferences (and occasionally, but not always,
do this well), I have the capacity to suffer in a way that animals and
preverbal children dont. Something seemingly minute in my environment or context, something that might not even be noticeable to someone
else, can trigger an internal experience within me that can make a reality
gap in my life very evident and very painful. I believe that the matrix
normalizes this experience and shows it clearly. And with this awareness
53
comes an opportunity for choice. Do I get sucked into these verbal processes and let them push me around? Or do I compassionately notice
how these processes impact me and mindfully choose an action that
brings me one step closer to the bulls-eye? In this way, the matrix puts
the principles of RFT into action.
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ACT for the Masses: Using the Matrix with the General Public
Conclusion
This chapter will hopefully serve as a reference point on how to integrate
the matrix into work with the general public. At a time when people feel
that theyre doing more and more while enjoying less and less, an
approach that helps them learn strategies to manage thoughts and emotions more effectively while moving toward a life that really matters is
infectious.
This chapter isnt about knowing everything you need to know to
bring the matrix to the general public. The first thing and most important thing isnt something that can be taught. Its a willingness to look at
the barriers to bringing this work to the public that you might face, and
finding a reason for doing so thats big enough that you would choose to
take one step closer toward shining brightlynot because you have to,
should, or must, but because this work is worth having all of that stuff on
the bottom left side of the matrix if maybe, just maybe, you can help
people make meaningful changes in their lives.
References
Dahl, J., & Lundgren, T. (2006). Living beyond your pain: Using acceptance and
commitment therapy to ease chronic pain. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger.
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56
CH A P T ER 4
away from a deeper connection with our clients and their suffering,
hopes, and aspirations. Although ACT, as presented in the classic
manuals, is a powerful intervention to help clients develop a more accepting relationship with their personal experience, we also noticed that it
didnt always get at the roots of our clients interpersonal difficulties, at
least as we practiced it then. Though clients came to struggle less with
inner experience and engage in more valued actions, progress in interpersonal effectiveness didnt always follow.
FAP is a relationship-centered contextual therapy that focuses on
the therapeutic relationship as the vehicle of clinical change by means of
reinforcement of improved in-the-moment behavior. FAP alerted us to
the importance of noticing interpersonal functions in the room. It helped
us better track and make use of the effects of our behavior on clients, as
well as the effects client behavior had on us. FAP offers the therapeutic
relationship as a training ground for improved interpersonal behavior
for both clients and therapists.
59
Promoting Generalization
The relevance of the matrix to FAP work extends outside sessions to
problematic or improved daily-life behaviors. The matrix point of view
helps clients sort their behavior between sessions and, by increasing the
functional similarity between in-session toward moves and away moves,
promotes generalization of matrix sorting to clients everyday lives.
60
Thus, neither client nor therapist needs to get stuck on a given model of
causality and argue about whether feelings and thoughts or outside
events cause behavior. Depending on the context, either form of analysis can be helpful. The therapist helps clients gain flexibility in their
functional accounts by orienting them either to outside events or to
inner experience.
For FAP, CRB3s are also a way to promote generalization. The same
holds true when using the matrix. It promotes generalization of CRB by
inviting clients to notice away moves and toward moves in daily life and,
more generally, to spot the matrix in everyday experiences.
62
Figure 4.1. Spiky and Flexi. The spikes represent suffering as well as moves
away from suffering. Whereas Spiky seeks to contract his experience of
what he doesnt want to think or feel, thus creating further spikes by struggling, Flexi makes room for what he doesnt want to think or feel, allowing
him to contact whats important in the situation and choose toward moves.
Weve found that these characters offer an intuitive way for clients to
get a sense of the felt difference between away moves and toward moves.
They also nicely illustrate the interpersonal functions of struggling,
which makes others move away or enables only connection in superficial
ways, and the functions of acceptance and valued living, which make
others more inclined to move closer and seek deeper connection.
63
65
Defusion
The matrix also helps promote defusion and can easily be blended
with traditional ACT exercises. We commonly use the Hook metaphor.
Clients are invited to notice if some aspect of their inner experience,
whether its a thought, an emotion, or a bodily sensation, is a hook for
them. If it is, theyre asked to notice what do they typically do next: a
toward move or an away move.
Therapist: So thats what hooks are. What do you think your
hooks were earlier?
Client: A big hook for me is that nothings ever going to
change.
Therapist: You noticed that hook. Good! And when this hook
shows up, what do you do next?
Client: I become sad and angry, and I just want to shut the
whole world out.
Therapist: You notice what you do next. Good! For me, the hook is
that Im not a good enough therapist. If I dont notice
the hook, I may just shut down or propose an exercise
right away. Noticing the hook helps me notice what I
tend to do next, and notice if I can see what the person
I want to be would do next, which is generally a toward
move. How about you?
66
Client: Hmm. I think the hook doesnt come alone. There are
many others on the line. Like People dont care about
me, and Im all alone anyway.
Therapist: Ouch! Painful hooks. And what do you do next when
these show up?
Client:
Therapist: Okay, you noticed that. And what would the person you
want to be do when these hooks show up?
Client: Not push people away, so
Therapist: Seems to me youre biting less right now.
Client:
(Laughs.) Yeah, but thats only because youre helping
me. I dont know if I could do it out there.
Therapist: How about seeing if you can notice hooks and what you
do next between now and next week?
Client: Sure.
The Hook metaphor contains the two important steps of defusion:
noticing thoughts or emotions as thoughts or emotions, thereby affording
some distance from them, and getting at the function of individual
thoughts or emotions in their particular context, using the question What
do you do next? This highlights the behaviors that follow from biting the
hook of that particular content and thus effectively promotes CRB3.
Acceptance
Inviting clients to describe what shows up in the lower left quadrant
of their matrix is an effective way of promoting acceptance. The character Flexi is also a versatile image for promoting and discriminating acceptance in the moment.
Therapist: When you talk about noticing your hooks and not
biting, would you say thats more like Spiky or Flexi?
Client:
Therapist: Its great to see you make space for these hooks without
biting. See if you can notice how you do that, and
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AWAY
AWAY MOVES
TOWARD MOVES
WHO OR WHAT IS
IMPORTANT TO ME
MENTAL
EXPERIENCING
INNER
EXPERIENCING
TOWARD
POTENTIALLY
VALUED
LIFE DOMAINS
INTIMATE RELATIONS
FAMILY
PARENTING
FRIENDSHIP
SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS
LEISURE
WORK
TRAINING/LEARNING
COMMUNITY
SPIRITUALITY
SELF-CARE/HEALTH
Figure 4.2. The matrix with an added layer of experiencing. The inner
experiencing layer allows clients to discriminate between bodily sensations and thoughts and images and can help them contact how it feels to
have a particular mental experience.
68
Therapist: So when this thought that nothing will work shows up,
you become sad and angry. Whats that like?
Client:
Therapist: Yes. Often thats the biggie. Thats what we really try to
move away from. Not so much the words or images, but
how they make us feel inside. Thats how we become
like Spiky, by contracting our inner experience so as to
not feel it.
Client:
In our clinical practice, weve also noticed that when clients have
difficulty or refuse to contact inner experience, training their attention
toward five-senses experiencing can help them gradually open up to their
bodily sensations. In this manner, clients can progressively learn to recognize their feelings and develop a more stable sense of self.
Values
Values work in ACT, particularly values clarification, can become a
verbal minefield. Traditionally, values work gets pushed back toward the
end of therapy, when progress with defusion and acceptance make it less
likely that client and therapist will get stuck. The matrix can help simplify values work by recasting it in terms of discriminating between
69
toward moves and away moves, allowing values to take center stage from
the get-go. Using the word important rather than values can protect
both client and clinician from falling into wordy confusion. A question
as deceptively simple as What would the person you want to be do in
this situation? can lead to the immediate derivation of valued action.
Here too, the therapeutic relationship provides a privileged context for
in-
the-
moment derivation and engagement in moves toward whats
important (CRB2). As the most important values often involve relationships, this can be evoked by the therapeutic relationship itself.
Therapist: I noticed that when I told you I cared about you and
was wondering how you had been doing over the week,
you changed the subject.
Client: It makes me feel uncomfortable when you say that you
care about me.
Therapist: I appreciate you sharing what you genuinely feel. Weve
seen how receiving other peoples care is difficult for
you. But would you like to be able to open up to other
peoples care and affection?
Client: Well, my ex-wife complained I always made jokes when
she tried to say she loved me.
Therapist: And what would you like to be able to do?
Client: I wish I could be warmer, not so distant.
Therapist: Okay, how about now? Can you open up to the fact that
I care about you and wonder how youre doing during
the week?
Client: Thats nice (Pauses and chuckles.) Its a little hard to
open up to it.
Therapist: And when you do, what do you notice?
Client:
Perspective Taking
The matrix trains flexible perspective-taking skills. We do this work
by inviting clients to adopt the matrix perspective (discussed in chapter
2). In the therapeutic relationship, we invite clients to take our perspective and describe what they would experience if they were the therapist
and we were the client. Once the skill has been trained in the therapeutic relationship, it can generalize to the client taking the perspective of
significant others by taking the perspective of their matrices.
Another effective way to train flexible perspective taking is inviting
clients as they are here and now, in contact with their matrix, to imagine
being teleported to a difficult situation and noticing their matrix in that
situation. Being aware of what shows up in the situation, is there something they, as they are here and now, could tell themselves, as they will
be there and then, that could help? This dialogue can lead to an exploration of self-validation strategies, gently returning attention to whats
important and choosing action. The therapist can conclude the exchange
by asking clients how probable they think it is that they, as they are here
and now, will be able to go and assist themselves there and then.
Clinician Self-Disclosure
Through the matrix, clinicians may choose to self-disclose if this is
done in the interest of helping clients better identify the interpersonal
functions of their own behavior or as a way to model processes and let
clients contact their shared humanity with the therapist. A clinician
could thus choose to disclose that shes feeling anxious because shes
awaiting news of the outcome of an operation a sick relative is undergoing. She could also choose to disclose that when the client rejects her
praise, she notices feeling pushed away.
Matrix Spotting
An effective way to promote generalization of behavior practiced in
session is inviting clients to see if they can spot the matrix in their life
outside of sessions, and especially in interpersonal relationships. We
sometimes tell clients that now that theyve started looking through the
matrix, they wont be able to unsee it no matter how hard they try, and
that it will start popping up in many life situations.
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Homework
When using the matrix, homework isnt called homework; instead,
its home practice. Its simply about noticing, not about having to do anything in particular. In addition to ensuring client compliance with
homework (as long as they commit to noticing), its also an excellent
way of working through pliance and counterpliance issues.
Couples Work
Space precludes a thorough discussion of how to use the matrix for
couples work. However, many of the strategies outlined above can be
used with couples; therefore, we will briefly sketch how they can be
adapted to couples work.
Setting Up
As we introduce the matrix, we get each partner to fill out an individual matrix, while we often fill in their matrix as a couple. Each partner
writes his or her own values, suffering, and away and toward moves as
theyre identified, and those they have in common are recorded on the
couples matrix. (See also the Second Loop Around the Matrix, in
chapter 14, for a discussion of shared matrix work.)
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Conclusion
In this chapter, we illustrated how the matrix could be used to integrate
relationship-centered strategies from FAP into ACT-based interventions,
and as a tool in couples work. We believe that the matrix is ideally suited
to integrating exercises and procedures from other approaches with
ACT-based interventions, as long as this is done in the service of moving
toward whats important (i.e., under appetitive control, rather than aversive control of moving away from discomfort). We hope this chapter has
given you a taste for using the matrix as a flexible cue for therapists
engaged in relationship-focused work, helping clients move toward the
life and relationships they want.
References
Boulanger, J. L., Hayes, S. C., & Pistorello, J. (2010). Experiential avoidance as
a functional contextual concept. In A. M. Kring & D. M. Sloan (Eds.),
Emotion regulation and psychopathology: A transdiagnostic approach to etiology and treatment (pp. 107134). New York: Guilford.
Kohlenberg, R. J., & Tsai, M. (1991). Functional analytic psychotherapy: Creating
intense and curative therapeutic relationships. New York: Springer.
Lara, M. E., Leader, J., & Klein, D. N. (1997). The association between social
support and course of depression: Is it confounded with personality? Journal
of Abnormal Psychology, 106(3), 478482.
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CH A P T ER 5
What Is Addiction?
The term addiction is increasingly applied to widely different situations, ranging from substance misuse to gambling or sex to shopping and
even to ice cream consumption. What this tells us is that addiction is not
a single condition that can be defined in the way that a disorder like
depression might be. Therefore, we need to look at addiction more as a
category of disorders that can have widely ranging differences in presentation and underlying cause. There is extensive comorbidity with traditional mental health conditions and overlap with serious mental illness,
often referred to as dual diagnosis. It is a kaleidoscope, and a principle-
based model seems the only realistic approach.
Since this is not a chapter on addictions per se, I am going to limit
the use of the term addiction to describe typical behaviors that are
involved in maintaining a strong physical dependency on a chemical substance. Typically, this involves substances that are illegal in the UK at
this time, such as opiates, cocaine, and amphetamines. However, substance dependency in the UK more often involves legal substances,
including alcohol, nicotine, and prescription drugs, such as the benzodiazepine family, and such addictions are also addressed here. (I will leave
caffeine out of the discussion!)
As mentioned, the term addiction is often applied more widely to
describe behavior that does not involve ingesting a mood-altering substance, for instance gambling or sex. It can be taken even further to
describe engaging in a variety of behaviors compulsively, such as shopping or spending, and even to describe our Western culture, as in the
label addictive society. The matrix will work equally well with these
compulsive addictions, as it does not require the focus on physical
dependence that is so heavily emphasized in the treatment of substance
misuse.
78
Client Group
People presenting to the system have usually reached a fairly desperate
situation in life, often referred to as rock bottom. This is a specific incident or moment that shocks people into action, such as a hospital admission, or having children removed by social services, or loss of a job.
Circumstances vary widely, and for many people these events just fuel
further substance use. For each individual, the rock bottom is personal
and comes after many, many years of sliding into an increasingly worse
condition. Clearly, such people need a model of treatment that is simple
and well organized.
What this means when considering a treatment model is that the
system is usually dealing with people whose physical and mental health
79
are at an extremely low ebb. In most cases, their lives are chaotic and
filled with all sorts of difficult problems, and their support systems have
disappeared. People who present for help usually have a high level of life
difficulty and low access to resources. It is a very tough starting point,
and we can expect many relapses as people progress through the journey
of recovery.
This places an emphasis on engagement, and particularly the use of
the Yes, and? skill (discussed in chapter 1). People who enter treatment
are typically feeling unsafe and out of control in daily life, and they also
belong to a social group that is heavily stigmatized. For that reason, it is
particularly important to create an environment that is safe and interesting for new clients. In fact, clients often report that having a safe place
really matters, and that being with a group of similar people is a relief
from the stigma experienced elsewhere in the course of their recovery.
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Group Treatment
My own background was ten years of experience with dialectical
behavior therapy (DBT), which is where my interest in behaviorism
started, as well as an interest in ACT fueled by my dissatisfaction with
the symptom-first approach of DBT. I had already run a few ACT-like
groups focused on the traditional six components of the hexaflex, but
with limited success. I was ready for something more effective and went
over to visit Kevin Polk, at the Togus VA Medical Center in Maine. I
brought the iView format, as it was then called, back over to the UK and
started using it in groups, but it proved to be confusing for clients.
Early on, we understood that the model needed to be simple and
visual because clients are in such a state of disarray when they enter the
treatment setting. The elements of noticing were there in iView, along
with acceptance and defusion, but the tool was not clear enough. We
could see that we were on to somethingand that it was not yet the
finished article. Fortunately, enough clients started engaging with the
approach and making strides to recovery that we were able to maintain
funding for the project.
The Grid
When I was at Togus, we improvised a role-play in which the client
was visually presented with two choices. This was the first time I had
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Group Format
By this point, we were using the standard matrix diagram with the
two discrimination lines and four quadrants and getting clients to sort
their experiences onto the diagram. Next, we built a structure for the
group that allowed us to focus more clearly on some of the individual
components of ACT, such as values and acceptance. A structure for the
groups emerged in which we began with mindfulness, then sorted examples on the matrix, and then did an activity around one of the components. We still use this standard structure today, though we leave out
formal mindfulness with drop-in groups. We use the standard homework
statement at the end, inviting people to either notice where they are on
the matrix or not to bother with the homework, as people often dont like
homework and its all the same to us. These are all written up in the
manual 60 Ways to Use the Matrix, which is unpublished but available
from me by e-mail. (Please send requests to mark_swest@yahoo.ie.)
Group Guidelines
As the approach gained popularity, we started to diversify the locations where we ran groups, so we needed to have a clear set of guidelines
for groups that were independent of the setting. These guidelines were
82
developed by the service users using a toward and away approach until
we arrived at a set that seemed to work (which is included in the manual
60 Ways to Use the Matrix).
Decentralized Groups
The number of groups we were running continued to grow, and we
were running more and more groups in the community. One of the
groups we started was in the local general hospital working in conjunction with the Alcohol Specialist Nurse Service, only the second such
service in the UK at the time. We set up an integrated psychosocial
interventions service offered in the wardthe first program of its kind in
the UK.
This was another pivotal moment. Although it had been a chance
decision to set up the groups in the hospital, we immediately started to
notice how popular this was with patients. When we asked them about
their experience, they tended to give similar responses. They liked
coming to the hospital because it was perceived as a normal environment, allowing them to avoid the stigma associated with specialized
addiction centers. Furthermore, many patients with alcohol problems
preferred not to be treated in the same groups as people with drug problems. We were also able to bypass the lengthy referral system so people
could self-refer after a relapse. We were surprised by how successful this
was, as we had all worked in addiction services for a long time, and this
didnt conform to the usual pattern.
Excluded Clients
Because the first ward-based program was a pilot project, it underwent an external audit. When we looked at the results, we had 100
percent satisfaction from those attending the matrix groups. This got us
thinking about the basic assumptions in the existing model of
provision.
Another group we were running, in a community center, had also
started attracting people who were in recovery but not attending specialized services. They were in differing stages of recovery and did not want
to be associating with people who were still involved in using. We realized that there was a large group of people who wanted recovery-based
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Diversified Locations
The success of the hospital program allowed us to expand the alcohol
service, and we decided to base groups in community locations. We
wanted to see if we could expand the service and include clients who
wanted the recovery aspect of treatment rather than the drug or alcohol
aspect.
This meant working with other agencies and running groups on
their premises with a direct referral pathway. The first agencies we looked
at were Probation, Social Services, Mental Health, Primary Care, and
Housing. In each instance we met with the local managers and staff to
identify the needs of the client group and set up times for groups to be
run.
Generally, these groups flourished, and like the hospital groups they
were well attended and valued. The few groups that didnt succeed were
closed down, and for those, we went back to the drawing board, did a
toward and away analysis, and tried again. Numbers of people attending
the groups continued to grow, and there was a demand for different levels
of groups so the work could be progressively more challenging.
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This helped explain the high rates of relapse and low rates of success
in the harm-reduction approach, a result of people switching from one
form of aversive control to another as treatment progressed.
Our analysis is that harm reduction helps people move away from
the consequences of their addictions. For example, these might be health
consequences in the hospital, family consequences in social services, or
criminal justice consequences in probation. In fact, hospitals, social services, and the criminal justice system define good outcomes by the
absence of those very consequences, so the dominance of aversive control
is perpetuated by the institutional culture of these agencies and the government bodies that fund them. Government outcomes normally represent a successful use of aversive control, without any appetitive element.
And, of course, standard mental health outcomes are defined in a similar
fashion.
What we observed in stage one is that people would participate in
treatment and successfully escape the consequences of whatever got
them to engage with services in the first place. Then the services would
typically be withdrawn as if treatment were a success. However, once
people had engaged in treatment and reduced the frequency of their
initial presenting behaviors, they were left with the same unwanted
thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations that their addiction had
helped suppress. So as the aversive control of engaging in treatment
started to fade, a new set of aversive stimuli that would drive people back
into addiction emerged. No wonder people relapse
its a double
whammy. I call this the relapse shuffle.
Those who stayed with treatment, perhaps because some form of
appetitive control had been established, were then faced with the third
set of obstacles to recovery: the challenges of meeting new people, going
to new places, and trying new things in a community that stigmatizes
addiction. It became clear to us why people were not progressing into
stage-two and then stage-three work, which is about reintegrating into
the community. People would instinctively want to move away from that
and stay in the home group, which is more comfortable and safe. This
corresponded with another observation: that people typically stay in
their treatment settings and do not move on and reintegrate into the
community. Usually, clients were blamed for the failure, whereas in fact
we were not providing the necessary tools to help people overcome these
weighty obstacles.
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iGro
The Individualized Generic Recovery Outcomes (iGro) is a system
of measurement I developed based on the D1 (sensory vs. mental experiencing) and D2 (toward vs. away) structure of the matrix. Each dimension is based on a simple scale of 1 to 5 scored each time there is contact
with a client. The information is then entered into a database that allows
client progress through recovery to be charted at a push of a button. It
allows group leaders to make systematic assessments of clients progress,
rather than relying on feel or opinion. When we started to apply the
system, we discovered that our opinions were not very accurate, compared to the scales!
Challenges
We developed challenges as one of the key components of the
program because this effectively tells us about the level of aversive control
being maintained. Including challenges allows us to monitor each client
to ensure that everyone is learning to overcome barriers and obstacles.
The term challenges is very intuitive for group members.
Challenges are set monthly in community programs and weekly or
biweekly in residential programs. The challenges are individualized
behavioral tasks that require each person to confront a higher level of
aversive control than previously, like raising the bar on a high jump a
notch at a time. Through the systematic application of challenges, each
person both develops new behavior under appetitive control and engages
in exposure work around the internal aversive stimuli that had previously
been generating away behaviors. Common challenges involve dealing
with difficult interpersonal situations, sorting out money issues, enrolling
in courses, applying for a job, or engaging in a new leisure activity.
Activities
We realized that we had to carry the focus on what is important
through to group activities. We now provide many more activities that
are focused on developing appetitive control, and have even created an
activities book called Take a Walk on the Wild Side that contains thirty
ways to work experientially in groups with the ACT components. We
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also noticed that people did not like talking about their away behaviors,
as doing so is also under aversive control due to the high levels of stigma
and shame that surround addiction. Consequently, we have increased
the level of aversive stimuli in group activities to provide another opportunity for exposure work and progress in facing aversives. For example,
not talking about away behaviors is an away move, so we include an
activity in which we put clients into small groups and get them to generate lists of away behaviors and think about which ones apply to them.
Then we ask them to think about and list the aversive stimuli that underpin these behaviors (known as not wants) and to think about and list
the long-term negative consequences of each. This is then processed in
the larger group using the whiteboard. In this way, all participants talk
about their own aversive stimuli, but they do so in a safe environment
that normalizes much of the experience.
Most of the activities follow a similar pattern. In another activity we
use laminated pictures that we spread on the floor. Clients are invited to
select one that represents an area of their life that is difficult. Each then
talks about why he or she chose that picture, thereby contacting some of
the aversive stimuli while talking and engaging in new behavior in the
presence of those stimuli.
From this work emerged a second overall direction for the project:
maintaining as high a level of exposure practice as is appropriate.
Community
In Portsmouth we are fortunate to have a strong 12-step community and
now a strong community of people in recovery who operate as a service
user group called PUSH (Portsmouth User Self Help) funded by the
commissioners. Over time, we have come to work more closely with
people who are in recovery, as they are in a better position to provide the
individual support and encouragement that clients need to overcome
their obstacles and barriers. PUSH members act as recovery brokers
and receive training and supervision. This community (PUSH) is reinforcing to belong to and provides opportunities for others in recovery to
safely learn new skills and try new activities. PUSH members follow the
same format of focusing on what is important, and they use their experience to help people along the road to a better life.
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Training
As the system has grown, weve needed to train more people to deliver
the groups. This is another area where we have innovated and made a
considerable change in the culture. I created a system of training people
that involves learning three main competencies: sorting to appetitive
control, using the Yes, and? skill, which is a relationship-building tool,
and understanding how to run activities and conduct exposure work.
Training is delivered through workshops and observing a more experienced leader. All feedback is against the three competency areas and
the standard group structure. We have been able to train all manner of
nonspecialist workers in this way. This allowed us to make another paradigm shift in the way we approach treatment; in addition to delivering
treatment away from specialized addiction centers, we can also deliver
treatment through nonspecialist workers.
Task Shifting
The matrix has allowed the development of a completely new paradigm
in addiction treatment. Although it is an extremely obvious statement,
addiction is a condition that affects all corners of society. People with
addictions turn up in all agencies and, up until now, the frontline workers
in these agencies have had to refer to specialized substance misuse services. Most people referred never make it to those programs.
Using the matrix, we have not only been able to locate services
where clients are but have also created an integrated pathway that is
holistic and addresses the full range of client needs. In fact, the model is
so simple and straightforward that it can be taught to almost anyone.
This means we can teach people in many agencies, such as Housing,
Social Services, Probation, and Education, how to deal with the substance misuse element of the situation.
Through the matrix, we can transfer skills out to workers in all agencies and equip them to deal with not only addiction problems but also
other behavior change problems. Behavior change is no longer just the
province of specialists; and, by shifting this task out into the community,
we can reach many more people and reach them much sooner, before
their lives get so bad that they need a specialized service. Through this
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work, we are now seeing changing attitudes toward substance misuse and
treatment across many agencies in the city.
Standards
Over the past two years, we have worked with the commissioners, service
providers, and service users to create a set of standards for practice based
on a recovery model. These standards are behavioral and based on the
idea of working on who or what is important for the client. The next
phase of the work is to reach the point where the whole system develops
appetitive control at every opportunity, and is monitored. The system is
becoming a functional contextual one, but it will take at least another
five years to change the wider culture.
Conclusion
While this has been the story of the journey toward a new model of
addiction treatment in Portsmouth, it is also a story of how the matrix
can be used to broaden the reach of the functional contextual approach
to the places where it is needed. The model is simple and universal, so it
is suitable for all people, whether they present in crisis or are simply
struggling with life. It can be taken outside the walls of traditional specialized centers and made available in a more timely fashion where and
when it is needed. It can also be delivered by anyone who has a sincere
wish to help others. These are all essential in addiction because it is a
condition that knows no limits, and affects the whole of society.
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CH A P T ER 6
94
treatment providers. The idea that the pain may have a biological cause
is only partially relevant to this conversation. The driving factor should
be that either there is a solution to the current pain problemsuch as
surgery or any other treatment that can resolve itor there isnt. If there
is no medical solution, we may need to approach the pain from a different perspective. The perspective I suggest can be represented using a
version of the matrix with some slight variations specific to this population (see figure 6.1). The matrix places the person in the center, where
pain is a partand only a partof a full life.
External Experiencing
(Five Senses)
Values:
Family
Intimate Relationships
Parenting
Away
Toward
Friends
Education
Work
Recreation
Spirituality
Citizenship
Health
Internal Experiencing
(Inside the Skin)
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balance. Then I ask, What is balance? Of course, you have to experience it to know. Then I outline the ACT approach: At times in our
work, much like for balance, we simply will not have the words to adequately describe the experience. When this happens, we will try exercises designed to create an experience. This is all to help you develop
psychological flexibility so you can better engage with things you care
about. This is our treatment contract: we will continue to gain perspective for the purpose of moving toward a valued life. If the patient says yes
to the contract, we move into exploring the new perspective.
Matrix Overview
Please refer to figure 6.1 for the perspective described in the rest of this
chapter. The self, or me, is the center of the model, because human
beings perspective has them at the center of their own universe. I will
usually write Me in a circle at the center and then ask, How do you
experience or take in information about the world? This begins the
exploration of the vertical axis, which represents the two ways that
humans experience things. At the top is the way that people take in
information about the world around them: through the five senses.
Through a mindfulness-based exercise, I invite people to experience an
object and describe their experience of it with each of their five senses.
People usually report that they havent paid attention to their direct
experience in that way in a long time. This slowing down is both useful
and unusual. Then I ask them to put the object aside and experience it
through the other way of experiencing: internal, represented at the
bottom of the vertical line. Here it may be useful to discuss everything
that can occur inside the skin, such as memories, thoughts, feelings, and
sensations, including pain. The horizontal line can be described as the
skin barrier, with things that happen inside the skin falling below the
line and things that happen outside the skin falling above the line
because they are experienced through the five senses.
The horizontal axis is the behavior line. It represents the two major
functions, or purposes, of behavior. I use a series of questions to create a
context that makes this distinction come alive. I begin with a trick question: Have you ever experienced pain? This both highlights clients
experience, and normalizes it, as all human beings experience pain. Pain
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gets placed in the lower left quadrant of the matrix, because its inside
the skin. The next question really begins the discussion of the behavior
line: Have you ever done anything to move away from something
uncomfortable inside your skin, like pain? If this question is unclear, I
clarify by asking about the present moment, for example, Are you doing
that now? We then contact the moving toward side through similar
questions. Sometimes it may be helpful to ask, Who or what is important to you? and Have you ever done anything to move toward something or someone important to you? The key distinction is the difference
between moving toward something thats important to the individual
and moving away from things inside the skin that are uncomfortable.
The bulk of the treatment can be mapped directly onto the two lines
and the circle at the center. Sometimes, just showing clients this model
is helpful enough to allow them to make a significant start in moving
toward a valued life; but often, more is needed. If a client is particularly
inflexible or focused on removal of pain as the goal of treatment, highlighting each piece of the model becomes necessary. The purpose of the
model and use of the diagram is to help create perspective on where the
client is placing attention and what is motivating behavior in the
moment. This is in keeping with the traditional ACT question What
are you willing to do and experience in this moment to move toward the
things that are important to you?
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Creative Hopelessness
In the first group session, the goal is to uncover the unworkable
change agenda by bringing attention to the pain story. Session 1 is
focused on the left side of the matrix diagram. During the initial assessment, clients describe their pain problems, the location of the pain, its
intensity or severity, and the many things they try, possibly daily, to
manage or control the pain. In the first group session, we look at all of
this in a special way. First, we note how long the pain problem has
existed. In groups, it isnt uncommon to find totals of well over one
hundred years of experience among all members in dealing and living
with pain. Who could argue with one hundred years of experience of
anything? I sure wouldnt, and I tell them that. I let clients know that
their experience is what will be the guide. The point of this session is to
slow down and really look at what is. As clients work with individual
matrix worksheets, I invite them to list the problems they suffer in the
bottom left quadrant and the solutions theyve tried in the upper left
quadrant.
They can then map out a real-life example on their individual matrices. I ask for an example of pain showing up inside the skin, as illustrated
in this dialogue.
Therapist: Pain shows up. What do you do? What happens next?
Client:
I go to the doctor.
that alleviate pain in the short term, and some that work in the longer
term, but nothing that works to remove the pain for life. If it sometimes
goes away, it continues to show up. The goal of this session is for clients
to experience that the process of outlining the problems, solutions, and
how theyre linked frequently creates a circle that just keeps going around
and around, getting thicker and darker in some areas. This realization
can feel heavy and depressing. Its supposed tonot for the sake of creating depression, but for the purpose of looking at what truly is. The process
of trying to control things inside the skin leads to feeling hopeless. It
looks like a downward spiral and feels like being stuck in a rut.
The matrix is helpful here to help initiate part of the ACT process
known as creative hopelessness (Hayes, Strosahl, & Wilson, 1999). If
there is a whole other side of the model, that must then mean theres an
alternative. What might that alternative be? This is the creative part of
the hopelessness. The middle and right side of the model allow for experiencing that the self, in the center, is not wrapped up in the downward
spiral of attempts to control inner experiencing. Frequently, I end the
creative hopelessness session with the Man in the Hole metaphor (Hayes
et al., 1999), which illustrates the process of the session and can lead to
a thoughtful summary of the experience.
Identifying Values
Session 2 is focused on the right side of the matrix: values and committed action. Values are defined as setting the course for treatment,
based on the important things in life. Establishing that values are individual decisions already present inside each person and personal to each
person is of utmost importance in this session. Each individual is asked
what is important to him or her, and these values are recorded on the
right side of the matrix. Because some people have great difficulty stating
something important to them, the worksheet includes a list of life
domains that people often say are important, to help them explore whats
important to them. This list is by no means exhaustive; its just one set of
possible domains.
In this session, I introduce committed action using the distinction
between choosing and deciding in the following riddle: Three frogs sat
on a log. One decided to jump off. How many frogs are left on the log?
The answer is three, because as long as the frog has only decided but not
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Yes.
Therapist: Great, thats all you need to do for this exercise. The
instructions are simple: making a circle represents
making a choice. Im going to say something, and I just
want you to draw a circle to make a choice, okay?
Client:
Okay.
Therapist: On your matrix, draw a circle around a value youd like
to work toward this year. (Pause for one second.) Now
draw a circle around a value youd like to work toward
this month. (Pause for one second.) Now draw a circle
around a value youd like to work toward this week.
(Pause for one second.) Okay, great. Does everyone have
three circles on their matrix?
Inevitably, someone doesnt make three circles around values on the
worksheet. Why? It has to do with the difference between choosing and
deciding. If people get stuck in their head deciding, how quickly this exercise moves can become overwhelming. It forces them to make a choice or
get stuck. This can highlight that decisions are internal, and by now its
established that internal experiences can be tricky and get us stuck.
Returning to the goal of this sessionsetting a course for treatmentwe revisit individual values by preparing homework. The homework assigned in this session is for clients to identify a value that they
can work toward between this session and the next. Next, I have participants plan an action: a single behavior to move in the direction of that
value, the simpler, the better. Its helpful to think about movement
toward values as baby steps at first, choosing a behavior thats attainable
to demonstrate the point of valued action. The value is like a guiding
star, with the behavior chosen for homework moving clients slightly in
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that direction and serving as a goal along the path. The homework is
then simply to do the planned action and notice what happens.
The Mind
In session 3, mindfulness comes to the forefront. The purpose of the
session is to set up for defusion or mindfulness exercises. I begin by
describing the mind as a tool for humans to use and outline the minds
job. This session focuses on the lower half of the matrix: things inside the
skin and our reactions to them. In order to communicate mindfulness as
conceived in ACT and as relevant to the matrix, Ill use your own experience to demonstrate, just as I would with clients.
The mind is a useful tool that lives inside the skin. It helps us learn
things, usually quite quickly. It does many things automatically. A short
mindfulness exercise can provide a vivid illustration of the automatic
nature of the minds functioning. Visualize a piece of fruit. See yourself
cutting up that ripe, delicious-looking fruit. Now imagine putting the
first piece up to your lips and taking a bite of that big juicylemon! What
happened? Did the words on this page perhaps make you salivate a bit?
Human minds evolved to turn words into responses so we could
learn by indirect means. If each of us had to learn from direct experience
that lions and bears are dangerous, we all would have been eaten before
the first book was ever written. However, at times this amazing function
of the mind can cause problems. For instance, sometimes when pain
shows up, the mind may say that something cant be done. Has this ever
happened to you? Assuming it did, what happened next? Sometimes the
thought that we cant do something hooks our attention, drawing the
mind further inward. When this occurs, were hooked. Have you ever
walked down a hallway and bumped into someone or something? How
did it happen? Usually folks say, I wasnt paying attention or I was lost
in my thoughts. This is the essence of being hooked: attending to internal experiences to the exclusion of external experiences without noticing
that this is happening.
The story of Sid and Fido is a great representation of the power of the
mind. One Saturday, Sid gets tired of listening to his daughters radio and
decides to take his dog, Fido, out for a walk. By the time he gets to the
farthest point on his walk, thunder breaks out and rain begins to fall. He
returns home soaked and shivering to find that he accidentally locked
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himself out of the house. He can still hear his daughters music blaring
inside. He pounds on the door and checks every window to no avail.
Finally, the radio stops briefly and his daughter hears him banging at the
door. She lets them in. Fido shakes himself off quickly at the door, walks
over to his food dish, has a snack, curls up on the rug, and takes a nap.
What does Sid do? He grumbles to his daughter, stomps around, tells his
wife what happened when she arrives home, and may even tell this story
to his friends at work on Monday. This is the difference between animals
and humans who are focused on indirect experience. Humans get hooked
on mental content and experience stress in the absence of the stressor.
Who would you rather be, Sid or Fido?
Willingness
Willingness is balancing between the left and right sides of the
matrix. It has to do with how we treat the right side. Are we struggling
with internal experiences, or are we doing something differently? Session
4 focuses on willingness as a physical posture of acceptance toward internal experiences. Its achieved through practice in noticing the struggle
and choosing to do something different. To illustrate this physical
posture, I use a rope to pull a client or a hand to push a clients hand to
demonstrate what happens when something is touching us. An automatic response is to tense muscles or push or pull back. Try this sometime if you havent. Its impressive what your body does, almost without
you thinking about it, when someone pushes against your hand or runs a
rope through your hand.
Reactions to pain are often similar: muscles tense automatically.
Pain hooks us, and then we struggle. This struggling usually lands us
back in hopelessness. However, at that point we can begin to physically
practice a new posture toward hooks and the struggle: acceptance.
Acceptance is like relaxed muscles creating a space inside us that allows
us to move forward, toward our values.
A further way of describing the posture of acceptance is to imagine
the difference between experiencing a sunset versus solving a math problem
(Wilson & DuFrene, 2009). Again, Ill engage your own experience for the
purpose of illustrating how to bring these concepts to life for clients. Have
you ever seen a sunset? How did you respond to it? Think about how your
body was as you watched it. Actually pause here and experience that for a
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moment. Then contrast that experience with how youve felt while solving
a math problem. Which of these is more like how you treat pain or other
uncomfortable internal experiences? Do you treat those experiences like
sunsets or math problems? Could you watch your internal experiences
somewhat like a sunset, with that body posture? Could you do that if it
meant being able to have the life you want for yourself?
Self-as-Context
People can become lost in the patient role, as Dahl and colleagues
eloquently describe (2005). They become welded to their pain, and its as
if it defines them so completely that they cant imagine a perspective or
life beyond it. They are stuck in self-as-contentin defining themselves
by the content of their experience. Their mind has reduced them to their
pain and the limitations it imposes. To pull people from this stuck place,
the intervention described above may begin the task but still fall short.
Clients need to adopt a new perspective from which they arent reduced
to their pain. Describing this perspective, known in ACT as self-as-
context, is one of those places where words fail us. Describing it to clients
isnt helpful; what is needed is the ability to experience this perspective.
Mindfulness exercises can help clients contact a sense of self that remains
stable and consistent through the constant changes in all aspects of their
experiencephysical, mental, sensory, and emotionaland through
their different roles and ages. When initiating this work, usually in
session 5, I warn clients, Please notice your experience and dont simply
trust everything I say. Then we explore the self that experiences things
by finding the self that is consistent and has both changed over time and
remained the same.
Practicing sorting with the matrix is in itself an exercise in self-as-
context as clients gradually understand that the perspective from which
they observe their matrix remains constant over time and cannot be
reduced to their pain or their other experiences, or to their behavior or
roles. The Chessboard metaphor (Hayes et al., 1999) can be helpful at
this stage. Clients are encouraged to see the content of their experience
as a set of warring pieces on an infinite chessboard, and to contact the
sense of having always been there, like the board, throughout all the
changes in positions of the pieces and regardless of which side won a
particular round. To the chessboard, it matters little who wins. It remains
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unchanged; its always present and able to notice each piece without
needing to get involved. Contacting a perspective that fosters the experience of remaining the same through whatever changes may come can
greatly help people commit to bold moves toward values. When commitments are made from this perspective, it often brings a genuineness to
values that feels intensely vital.
Terminating Therapy
Sending clients off to enjoy a full, valued life is an excellent ending to
this type of work. Of course, there will be setbacks, relapses, and so on.
These are expected. Life is full of highs and lows, including pain and suffering. I prepare clients for this eventuality with the question Would you
be willing to receive your setbacks and relapses as youve learned to
receive other experiences in this group, so you can move toward enjoying
a full life with all of this and so much more?
Conclusion
When working with patients with chronic pain, the matrix can offer a
useful perspective. The specific perspective presented by the matrix is
functional contextualism: the ability to base behavioral decisions on
what workswhat moves people toward their valuesusing acceptance
of internal experiences to allow for flexible responding. This work is a
combination of difficult emotions, fun and energetic metaphors, and
exploration of internal and external experiences. This chapter simply
presents some examples of metaphors and exercises that I have found to
work well in groups. It isnt a treatment manual; rather, its an outline of
some things I typically do in treatment that you may find helpful when
working with clients with chronic pain. The matrix has been useful for
me and my clients, and I hope that youll find this to be the case for your
practice as well. The matrix offers guidance in asking effective functional questions, making it broadly useful in working with clients, in
supervising and consulting with other professionals, and in life more
generally.
References
Asmundson, G. J. G., Norton, P. J., & Norton, G. R. (1999). Beyond pain: The
role of fear and avoidance in chronicity. Clinical Psychology Review, 19(1),
97119.
Bond, F. W., Hayes, S. C., Baer, R. A., Carpenter, K. M., Guenole, N., Orcutt,
H. K., Waltz, T., & Zettle, R. D. (2011). Preliminary psychometric properties of the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II: A revised measure of
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CH A P T ER 7
My Matrix
While doing ACT with eating-disordered clients, a strong therapeutic
relationship is invaluable. As a therapist, I can be assailed by aversive
thoughts and emotions just as often as my clients. I may be visited by the
fear of not being up to the task or the shame of not providing effective
Becoming aloof
Showing impatience
Actively listening
Remaining open
ME
noticing
Being an empathic
and present
therapist
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111
The matrix can help these clients better notice their hooks and
where they might get pulled when they bitewhether these hooks seemingly appear on the left, as suffering; or on the right, as things their mind
claims are important, but which are really inflexible rules. The matrix
can also help them differentiate between mental experiencing and inner
or bodily experiencing, which in turn can help them reconnect with and
better recognize sensations of hunger and satiety.
Annie
I have chosen to illustrate how I work with the matrix through the case
of Annie. This case will help you see how I use the matrix from the first
session to help clients increase their psychological flexibility. Annies
case will also help you see how well suited the matrix is to treating clients
with eating disorders and how it can be used to train the different ACT
processes with this population.
First Session
Annie is a twenty-two-year-old law student. She comes with the goal
of getting her eating behavior under control. She binges about four or
five times a week, then purges by vomiting or using laxatives. When not
bingeing, she follows strict dietary restrictions. She describes herself as
impulsive and a perfectionist who dislikes the unexpected.
Early in our first interview, she confesses to being obsessed by food.
Her mind bombards her with rules about what, when, and how to eat
often contradictory: Eat a hearty breakfast and a frugal dinner, No carbohydrates if youre not exercising, Eat your fill but not a bite more, Skip
breakfast When these show up, she easily gets hooked. When hooked,
she becomes unable to fully engage with her experience of the moment.
She also has difficulties contacting her inner experience. She says she
has too much on her plate and is generally too stressed to know when
shes hungry or tired. Shes constantly striving to silence her food-related
thoughts through sports, excessive studying, relaxation, and more, but
nothing really works.
When I asked Annie what she expected from our work, she answered
without hesitation: I want to feel better.
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Seeing how highly fused with her thoughts Annie was and how stuck
she was in struggling against them, I chose to start working on her fusion
with rigid dietary verbal rules right away, using the matrix. Rather than
performing a comprehensive functional analysis, I invited Annie to work
with me on a recent situation illustrative of her difficulties. I thought it
might be interesting to start with the right side of her matrix so that from
the get-go our work would focus on ACTs central goal: commitment to
a meaningful life.
Therapist: Wow, it seems your mind never stops. Minds rarely do.
They love creating rules and telling us stuff. Its quite
normal. Problems arise when these rules prevent us
from doing whats meaningful to us. Could you
describe to me a situation where these rules prevented
you from having fun?
Client: Yes, last week my best friend, Marieshes passionate
about cuisineinvited me to this swanky restaurant.
The whole evening I could only think of how much
fat might be in the food, what I shouldnt be eating,
how much exercise Id have to do to burn those
calories I just wanted the meal to be over! I was
barely there. I think Marie sensed something was up.
Therapist: How important is her friendship to you?
Client: Shes one of the people I love the most in this world.
Shes my best friend and my confidant.
Therapist: Does Friendship with Marie go to the right of your
matrix, with the important things?
Client: Yes, of course!
Therapist: Go ahead and write it there.
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AWAY
ME
noticing
TOWARD
My friendship
with Marie
MENTAL OR INNER
EXPERIENCING
Therapist: Lets get back to the restaurant. If you didnt have all
these rules and all this pain, how would you have
imagined that night? Tell me about the best possible
restaurant evening with Marie.
Client: Id really be therelisten to her. Wed talk about
clothes, our studies, our future, what comes after
graduation
Therapist: And if a camera were there, what would we see?
Client: Two girls sharing a good meal, joking, and enjoying
a delicious dessert full of cream while chatting about
fashion and stuff.
Therapist: Could you place this on the matrix?
Client:
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Discussing fashion
Appreciating a delicious
dessert
Sharing pleasantries
Being present for Marie
AWAY
ME
noticing
TOWARD
My friendship
with Marie
MENTAL OR INNER
EXPERIENCING
Discussing fashion
Appreciating a delicious
dessert
Sharing pleasantries
Being present for Marie
AWAY
ME
noticing
Anxiety
Thoughts:
Dont touch the fatty
stuff
Turn dessert down
Youll have to make up
for all these excesses
Youll put on at least
5 pounds!
TOWARD
My friendship
with Marie
MENTAL OR INNER
EXPERIENCING
(Writes.)
FIVE-SENSES
EXPERIENCING
AWAY
Counting calories
Ordering only a salad
Filling up with water
to eat less
Pretending I cant eat
because of a tummy
upset
Discussing fashion
Appreciating a delicious
dessert
Sharing pleasantries
Being present for Marie
ME
noticing
Anxiety
Thoughts:
Dont touch the fatty
stuff
Turn dessert down
Youll have to make up
for all these excesses
Youll put on at least
5 pounds!
TOWARD
My friendship
with Marie
MENTAL OR INNER
EXPERIENCING
Figure 7.5. Annies completed matrix with her away moves in the
situation.
Therapist: What feelings came along with these things you did?
Client:
I felt on edgeoverwhelmedfrustrated
Therapist: So complying with these rules didnt help you feel
better? It sounds as though it might even have made it
worse.
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Client:
Therapist: So it kind of went around like this? (Draws the arrows on
the left side in figure 7.6.)
Client:
Yes, exactly.
Therapist: And, turning toward what you wrote on the right side of
your matrix, would you say that struggling in this way
helped you choose to move toward the important stuff?
Client:
FIVE-SENSES
EXPERIENCING
AWAY
Counting calories
Ordering only a salad
Filling up with water
to eat less
Pretending I cant eat
because of a tummy
upset
ME
noticing
Anxiety
Thoughts:
Dont touch the fatty
stuff
Turn dessert down
Youll have to make up
for all these excesses
Youll put on at least
5 pounds!
Im frustrated
and sad
Discussing fashion
Appreciating a delicious
dessert
Sharing pleasantries
Being present for Marie
TOWARD
My friendship
with Marie
MENTAL OR INNER
EXPERIENCING
Figure 7.6. Annies away moves create more frustration and sadness and
further distance her from whats important.
Client:
Tense!
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Therapist: Its normal for stuff to show up on the right and on the
left. Moving toward whats meaningful can often give
rise to feelings that arent always pleasant, such as fear
or shame. For example, during our consultation I
wanted to help you, and at the same time I could notice
a fear of not being up to it. To be totally honest, this
fear sometimes prevents me from being effective for my
clients. If you want, in our next consultation we could
look at these feelings that can prevent us from moving
toward whats important.
Client: Yes. My emotions often paralyze me.
I invited Annie to consider her food-related thoughts as natural phenomena and suggested the classical ACT exercise of prefacing her
thoughts with I have the thought that I then invited her to differentiate, in her private experience, the thoughts that invited her to engage
in toward moves and those that told her to stick to away moves. Finally,
I told Annie that the goal of our work was not to modify her thoughts so
much as it was to help her detach from unhelpful thoughts. I concluded
our first consultation by inviting Annie to notice where some of her
experiences went on her matrix over the coming week.
Thanks to the versatility of the matrix, this first session helped
increase Annies psychological flexibility by helping her cultivate defusion (gaining some distance from food-related thoughts), and initiate
work on values (friendship), committed action (spending quality time
with Marie), acceptance of unwanted emotions (anxiety), mindfulness
(of bodily sensations), and the observing self (adopting the matrix
perspective).
Second Session
By our second session, Annie had noticed some changes in her
eating behavior. Twice, shed added carbs to her lunch, which she identified as a toward move, yet shed also felt guilty for doing so. Because she
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121
Flexi.
Therapist: So would you say that when you struggle against what
you dont want to feel, suffering increases and you
become spiky, whereas when you treat your suffering
with kindness you dont feel so stuck?
Client: My brother is always going on about letting go.
Thats what that last part was about, wasnt it?
Annie found this exercise particularly useful. Previously, she had
thought of letting go as getting rid of all feelings and thoughts so as not
to feel anythingsomething she could never do.
Messages that the frequency and intensity of emotions can or must
be controlled are pervasive. Friends, family, the health care system, and
more generally the culture all convey these messages in some form.
Emptying ones mind, thinking of something else, chilling out, chasing
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the blues away, and so onall can be hooks that would seem to be on
the right side and thus are commonly reported as being important. By
helping people identify the function of these verbal rules, the matrix
gradually helps them sort between the hooks that appear as a function of
suffering and those that contact what is truly important and vital.
By the end of the exercise, Annies face looked more serene. I invited
her to notice, over the next week, experiences of suffering and whether
she could receive them in a similarly kind fashion.
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Definitely!
Conclusion
The matrix has become essential to my practice and central to my work.
As illustrated in this chapter, its a great tool for helping clients struggle
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CH A P T ER 8
Out of the Hole: The Matrix with Chronic and Severe Symptoms
Clinician Matrix
Notice that you are reading these wordswith both your five-senses and
mental experiencing. Who is doing the noticing? Why are you reading
this? What discomfort might show up that could get in the way of moving
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toward the values that brought you to this book? Simply notice what
happens next: an away move or a toward move. Clarifying and remaining aware of our own behavior in clinical work is essential, especially
with challenging clients. The matrix provides a simple and effective orienting tool. As we introduce and use the matrix framework in each
session with clients, simply noticing whats happening for us in each
quadrant of the matrix focuses and amplifies our awareness.
Clinicians Values
The lower right quadrant of the matrix addresses whats important
to us in working with challenging clients. Think for a moment about
what brought you to your training and your daily work as a health care
professional: perhaps helping others, kindness, caring, empowering, connecting, curiosity about the human condition, easing suffering, or social
justicechanging the world one life, one family at a time. Values like
these are probably guiding your toward moves in this very moment. Yet
when working with challenging clients in challenging situations, connecting with these values from moment to moment can often be
challenging!
Its easy to lose contact with what matters during difficult clinical
work or in inadequate, undersupported work environments. An ongoing,
intentional connection with our valuesgently returning to them when
we inevitably driftis essential for nurturing and sustaining ourselves.
From time to time during each session, notice why youre choosing to be
with that client in that moment, and what tiny toward move is possible
in that moment. If what shows up is Im not choosing; I have to, can you
perhaps find a choose-to even in that moment?
Out of the Hole: The Matrix with Chronic and Severe Symptoms
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Out of the Hole: The Matrix with Chronic and Severe Symptoms
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Out of the Hole: The Matrix with Chronic and Severe Symptoms
In this way, we notice and emphasize the normal and natural away
move functions of suicidality in the clientand their consequences,
which are often very effective in the short term yet very life-narrowing in
the longer term. This view reframes such behaviors as attempts at
problem solving, functioning as perfectly understandable moves away
from unwanted mental experiences. Holding these functional analyses
foremost for ourselves and our clients allows us to notice our natural
anxious reactions with less entanglement.
Similarly, while its important to minimize external reinforcers for
clients suicidal behaviors, its equally important to manage our own external reinforcers for therapeutic behaviors that are reactive and risk-averse
(and life narrowing for clients), such as inappropriate hospitalization,
increasing medication, involuntary treatment, contracts, and so on.
Simple measures include clearly documenting chronic rather than acute
suicidality; clarifying our functional, empirically based harm-minimization
approach; giving advice about crisis services; maintaining appropriate professional indemnity insurance; and being aware of the extensive literature
supporting outpatient care of chronic suicidality and self-harming behaviors. There is no unbiased evidence supporting the use of medication to
decrease the incidence or severity of self-harm or of suicidalityquite the
opposite. There is evidence that, for instance, selective serotonin reuptake
inhibitors often increase suicidality (Ferguson et al., 2005). Maintaining
professional support, education, and supervision from within the professional communities you inhabit is critical.
Out of the Hole: The Matrix with Chronic and Severe Symptoms
explorations may gently move you toward a caring, compassionate therapeutic relationship with such clients.
Clients Values
Nothing man. I just dont care. What do you mean, what matters to
me? For clients feeling a weight of pain when they dare to care, not
caring can become a vital mental away move. It dulls the acute, searing
pain due to the gap between what they want and what theyve gotthat
sharp ache that comes from contemplating places their mind tells them
they can never hope to go. Not caring on the other hand, brings only
flatness and a dull ache, which they may prefer to the pain youre inviting
them to feel. Consider yourself the dentist they have come to see,
perhaps reluctantly. Its probably best to not go straight to probing the
most painful tooth!
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As the time and setting permit, this line of questioning can gently
elicit a picture of the client as a human being within a context. All of this
information, along with details on activities of daily living, subtly connects with what matters, or could matter, without using scary words like
values or caring. Given time, we might expand this, catching even
tiny ways of passing the time, like watching TV and which shows,
reading, browsing the Internet, exercise, relationships with friends and
family members, pets, and so on, both currently and in the past, before
the client got so stuck. You might ask questions like, As a kid, what did
you do in school? Covering this ground is worth at least a third of assessment time. Make it clear that this is the important stuffa rough guide
to where the client might go on a life journey toward valued living. If the
client is living an impoverished life in which values have seemed unapproachable, keep it gentle and light.
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Out of the Hole: The Matrix with Chronic and Severe Symptoms
medications to get rid of bad feelings, and so on. Mental, or inner, less
easily observed away moves, which are often pervasive and heavily
invested include dissociating and ruminating, which may hook both
client and therapist due to their reasonableness and inevitability, and a
deeply felt need to understand or get insight. Remember, its always about
the function of the behaviorthe function in that moment, in that particular context in the clients life. Any of the moves listed above might be
fully toward or very much away. Cultivating and reinforcing an open,
aware, active matrix perspective allows for ongoing functional analysis of
behaviors, as we simply notice how theyre working for valued living.
Out of the Hole: The Matrix with Chronic and Severe Symptoms
anxiety, depression, and substance use. For convenience, lets assume the
therapist in these vignettes is male.
Therapist: So whats your living situation? For example, do you live
in a house or an apartment? Is it a rental, or is it yours?
Do you live alone or with others? Tell me about how you
spend your dayseven small things, like TV or perhaps
exercise.
Client: Well, Im stuck back at home. Pathetic isnt it, at my age,
living with my parents? Ever since I had to quit work
because of my depression, my illness, I dont do much,
mostly just getting stoned or popping Valium. Im mostly
feeling suicidal, but I cant kill myself because of my
damn parents. I havent been exercising since I gained
all this weight because of the meds. Its embarrassing!
Therapists mental experiencing: Notices that independence and
family are important for the client, despite mixed feelings. Notices that
the clients socially reinforced illness construct serves as mental explanation for moving away from frustration, sadness, and shame. Notices his
own frustration with such unworkable explanations, and his own away
moves in the form of thoughts about the client buying and using illness
as an excuse. Notices that in this realm the clients experience of the
unworkability of medication and its side effects might offer flexibility.
Notices his own anxiety and urge to distance himself on hearing the clients report of suicidality. Notices that family, health, and others are
important to the client. Connects with his own values of helping others
and engages the client in a discussion of values.
Therapist: It sounds really tough, Mike, feeling so stuck like that,
and with your mind giving you such a hard time. You
know, I can hear kindness in there for your parents,
even with the frustration. It sounds like being independent and a bit more active might matter to you. What if
our work could be about moving toward things like that,
even in tiny ways?
Now heres an exchange with Rachel, whos been diagnosed with
psychosis.
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Out of the Hole: The Matrix with Chronic and Severe Symptoms
Conclusion
In working with clients with chronic and severe symptoms, well have
plenty of unwanted painful experiences, both theirs and ours, coming
along for the ride. What if we could make a little room for these unwelcome passengers, welcoming them and allowing these painful thoughts
and feelings in the service of what we care about most deeply? They are
so closely connected. Gently carry them toward more valued lives for
your clients, and toward a valued path for you in your chosen work. With
kindness and compassion, we all might choose to explore whats possible
in this moment, and this next moment, and the next. I wish you well in
your journey.
References
Chiles, J. A., & Strosahl, K. D. (2005). Clinical manual for assessment and treatment of suicidal patients. Arlington: American Psychiatric Publishing.
Ferguson, D., Doucette, S., Glass, K. C., Shapiro, S., Healy, D., Herbert, P., &
Hutton, B. (2005). Association between suicide attempts and selective
serotonin reuptake inhibitors: Systematic review of randomised controlled
trials. British Medical Journal 330(7492), 396.
Hayes, S. C., Barnes-Holmes, D., and Wilson, K. G. (2012) Contextual behavioral science: Creating a science more adequate to the challenge of the
human condition. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science 1(12), 116.
Kupfer, D. J., First, M. B., & Regier, D. E. (Eds.). (2002). A research agenda for
DSMV. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
Strosahl, K. D. (2004a). ACT with the multi-problem patient. In S. C. Hayes &
K. D. Strosahl (Eds.), A practical guide to acceptance and commitment therapy
(pp. 209245). New York: Springer.
Strosahl, K. D. (2004b). Forensic and ethical issues in the assessment and treatment of the suicidal patient. In W. ODonohue & E. R. Levensky (Eds.),
Handbook of forensic psychology: Resource for mental health and legal professionals (pp. 129154). San Diego: Elsevier Academic Press.
Strosahl, K. D., Robinson, P., & Gustavsson, T. (2012). Brief interventions for
radical change: Principles and practice of focused acceptance and commitment
therapy. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger.
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CH A P T ER 9
The matrix began as a way of working with clients with PTSD. For well
over twenty years weve worked with people with severe trauma memories. First, we used a psychodynamic approach, then moved on to family
systems, stress inoculation training, cognitive behavioral therapy, prolonged exposure therapy, and finally acceptance and commitment
therapy. After about twenty thousand hours of reading about and doing
ACT, the matrix diagram emerged.
Almost everyone intuitively understands that some people who have
experienced trauma are severely troubled by memories of the trauma.
After the Civil War, soldiers who were struggling with their traumatic
memories of the war were referred to as having soldiers heart. Later
terms were shell shock and battle fatigue. Beyond those exposed to
combat, survivors of traumatic experiences such as rape and natural
disasters were also known to carry the wounds of their trauma for years.
PTSD
Only a small percentage of people who experience trauma develop
PTSD. Said another way, most people who experience trauma dont
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Arriving in Therapy
Most people struggling with trauma memories show up to therapy fearing
that theyll have to talk about their trauma memories. And, of course,
with most therapies this is true; at some point, the trauma memories
must be talked about. Even ACT practitioners often believe that the
trauma must be talked about.
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150
To date, every person weve asked has said that its okay. With this
agreement, we then proceed to show them the diagram in one of two
ways. Heres an outline of the first approach:
1. We ask clients to use their five senses to notice a pen, pencil, or
some other object, usually omitting taste for sanitary reasons.
2. We ask clients to put the object away from their five senses and
then recall each of the sensory aspects of the object through
mental experiencing.
3. We ask them to notice the difference between their sensory and
mental experiencing of the object. (Note: It isnt necessary that
they notice a difference. Some clients will say there was no difference. To this we respond, Great! You noticed that to you
there was no difference.)
4. We ask clients to recall how it feels to move toward someone or
something important to them, such as walking toward a loved
one.
5. We ask clients to recall how it feels to move away from some
unwanted mental experiencing, such as moving away from fear.
6. We ask clients to notice the difference between how it feels to
move toward and how it feels to move away.
While weve been asking these six questions, weve been drawing the
matrix diagram on a whiteboard or other suitable surface. We end by
saying something like Psychological flexibility is in the center here
(drawing a circle in the center), with you noticing these two differences.
The other method we use is to ask the following questions while
drawing the matrix diagram, usually on a whiteboard:
1. Who and what are important to you? The answers are written in
the lower right of the diagram.
2. What shows up inside you, such as fear, that can get in the way of
moving toward who and what are important to you? These answers
are written in the lower left.
3. What kind of behaviors do you do to move away from unwanted
stuff that shows up inside you? For example, someone might run from
fear. These answers are written in the upper left.
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4. What behaviors could you do to move toward who and what are
important to you? These answers are written in the upper right.
We end by saying something like Psychological flexibility is in the
center, here (drawing a circle in the center, with the label You Noticing).
You notice who or whats important to you, what shows up and gets in
the way, what you do to move away, and what you do to move toward, all
at the same time. Its cool; your mind can do that.
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Five-Senses
Experiencing
Drinking
Alcohol
Away
YOU
Noticing
Toward
Fear
Mental
Experiencing
Figure 9.1. Moving away.
Continuing with this example, youd next ask, Does drinking get
rid of the fear forever, or does the fear eventually come back? Clients
always answer that the fear comes back. At that time, you can complete
the circle back down to fear, as in figure 9.2.
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Five-Senses
Experiencing
Drinking
Alcohol
Away
YOU
Noticing
Toward
Fear
Mental
Experiencing
Figure 9.2. The avoidance cycle.
Then ask, When the fear comes back, do you drink, or do some
other away move? Of course, the answer is yes, so you can draw another
half circle back up to drinking, or whatever away behavior the client
identified. Keep doing this, drawing smaller and smaller circles, and then
write Stuck underneath Away on the matrix, as in figure 9.3.
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Five-Senses
Experiencing
Drinking
Alcohol
Away
YOU
Noticing
Toward
Stuck!
Fear
Mental
Experiencing
Figure 9.3. Well and truly stuck.
Explain that everyone gets stuck in these kind of cycles. We all have
our stuck spots.
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Sorting
After the matrix diagram is presented, the next stage of the process is
sorting. To do so, engage clients in telling some story, any story, and as
they do so, sort the story into the four categories of the matrix diagram:
Sensory experiencing
Mental or inner experiencing
Toward actions
Away actions
For example, a person might be telling a story and mention smelling
flowers. The matrix practitioner might ask, Where would smelling go
on the diagram? The client might continue and mention taking a walk.
The matrix practitioner might then ask, Where would you sort that
walking on the diagram?
Notice that the client is invited to do the sorting. Most matrix clinicians, us included, get excited and start doing the sorting for the client.
As best you can, resist this urge and have the client do the sorting.
Another important point about sorting is that the accuracy of the
sorting isnt important. The client who was smelling flowers might sort
that as a mental experience, whereas the clinicians mind might think,
Thats wrong. However, the act of sorting is whats important, not the
accuracy of the sorting.
At any time, the clinician can pause on any part of any story and ask
the client to sort it. The aim is to get clients accustomed to stepping back
from their story in order to do the sortingto get them to ask the questions Is this a mental or sensory experience? and Is this action a toward
or away move? The next phase of the process is to generalize this ongoing
asking of the two questions into life. Thats done by noticing hooks.
you were going to walk over and get it. Maybe someone calls you an
insulting name. The list of potential hooks goes on and on.
To explore this, simply engage clients in a conversation about hooks.
If youre running a group, a discussion of peoples favorite hooks is likely
to be humorous, lively, and enjoyable. Even in an individual session, this
is usually a lighthearted discussion. Toward the end of the discussion,
ask, What hook do you think will show up next in your life?
Once clients predict the hook, you can ask, Do you think you could
notice the hook and then notice what you do next? Essentially everyone
is willing to try to remember to notice their hooks and what they do
next. Some people get excited and say things like So Im supposed to
notice the hook and then do a toward move? To this, you would respond
that, after noticing the hook, both toward and away moves should be
noticed.
At the end of the session, clients are given the homework assignment
to notice hooks and what they do next, with the clinician noting that the
homework either will or wont be done, and that either way will work for
learning.
In the next session, a discussion about hooks that were noticed or
not noticed ensues. Clients are likely to tell other toward and away stories
and engage in some sorting into the matrix diagram.
Clients with trauma memories might notice that theyre especially
likely to get hooked by their trauma memories and that they have trouble
having those memories and getting on with productive living. For these
clients, the following routine can be very helpful.
Because these clients are already very familiar with the matrix
diagram and sorting, you can simply say something like, Yes, sometimes
trauma memories can be very troubling. Some clients have told me that
the following mixing or blending exercise was very helpful to them.
Would you like to hear about it? To date, all of our clients have said yes.
When you notice having a trauma memory, pause and notice your
current five-senses experiencing. Where would you sort that trauma
memory? They are almost always sorted into the lower left of the matrix.
And where would you sort the five-senses experiencing? It is almost
always sorted right at the top of the vertical line. Continue by saying,
Great! Now, if you get the chance, you can pause and literally mix or
blend the two experiences together. While saying this, draw your fingers
together in a visual representation of a mixing action. Explain that all
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they need to do is notice what that mixing does. During subsequent sessions, you can ask clients whether they tried the mixing. They usually
have, and they often tell some interesting stories about the experience.
If you are like most clinicians, us included, your mind is saying, This
is too simple. Theres no way something so simple will work. However, since
its so simple and takes so little time, its worth a try. You might just find
that it leads to a lot more valued living for clients.
Cognitive Distancing
Many people dont know that the original name for ACT was comprehensive distancing, but we can all quickly understand why Steve
Hayes and company switched to the much sexier ACT. However, comprehensive distancing remains part of the model, even if its not discussed
much. Imagine a client sitting in your office with a story to tella story
thats mucking up the clients life. The client doesnt have much distance
from the story, if any. As you describe the matrix, you also draw it on a
whiteboard or some other surface a few feet away from the client. The
two crossed lines are very primitive and easy to stare at. Then you place
the essential elements of the story on the diagram: five-senses experiencing, mental experiencing, toward behaviors, and away behaviors. As the
clients story is plotted on the diagram several feet away, it is physically
distanced from the client.
In addition, the story is being taken apart through the process of
pausing and sorting the story. Sorting allows new experiences of the story
to be related to the story, including that the story is being told in a safe
place with no ill results. This is defusion, as it is now called in ACT.
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Clarifying Values
In matrix work, who or what is important to you corresponds to
the ACT term values. This is simply because the term values tends to
carry some baggage. For example, a client might think of the religiously
and politically loaded family values when you refer to values. Then youre
stuck explaining how ACT values are different from family values. This
isnt productive, so the simpler who or what is important to you can be
used to good effect in values clarification.
Committed Action
Committed actions are inherent in the matrix and need not be
taught. These actions are usually sorted in the upper right quadrant.
They are toward moves.
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other mental experiences) showing up in real life, and then notice the
choices they make after experiencing the memory.
The matrix also inherently takes into account who and what are
important to the client in working with trauma memories. After they
notice a trauma memory (possibly as a hook), clients are drawn into
choosing between moving away from or toward who or what is important. They learn that reactions to trauma memories need not be
automaticthey have a choice. Notice that this choice is not forced
upon clients; rather, its there for them to discover.
Present-Moment Awareness
An often mentioned part of ACT is present-moment awareness,
including the practice of mindfulness. Because mindfulness is another
term that many people dislike for a variety of reasons, it isnt mentioned
in the basic matrix routines. Instead, present-moment awareness is referenced with the word noticing, as noticing can only occur in the present
moment. In this way the matrix diagram automatically returns people to
the present moment with no explicit intervention needed.
Self-as-Context
One of the more complex terms in ACT is self-as-context. Its
easiest to think about it by first thinking of self-as-content. That simply
means totally buying the words youre saying about yourself. In much of
life this is fine. You might say, Im an accountant. If indeed you practice
that profession, to an extent it is you. If youre a mental health professional, you might say, Im a mental health professional. Again, no
problem.
Lets take that further. If youre a mental health professional, wed
like you to do the following exercise: The next time you see a loved one,
stand up straight, put your hands on your hips, and sternly proclaim, I
am a mental health professional. Notice the reaction you get. Then try
this with a stranger or someone you dont know well. For example, next
time youre eating at a restaurant, stand up straight, with your hands on
your hips, and proclaim to the waitperson, I am a mental health professional. Again, notice the reaction you get.
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Conclusion
Another way of saying self-as-context is psychological flexibility. In
matrix terms, people have the choice to do one of several away moves or
one of several toward moves at any moment. Further, the choice thats
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References
Foa, E. B., & Rothbaum, B. O. (1998). Treating the Trauma of Rape: CognitiveBehavioral Therapy for PTSD. New York: Guilford Press.
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CH A P T ER 10
session with the matrix diagram, clients start applying it to their everyday lives and come back for their next session with functional contextual
stories evidencing an increase in flexibility.
When clients cant discriminate between toward and away moves, I
spend time training this discrimination in our exchanges and help them
observe their experience in context. What works well for me is to invite
clients to observe whether they see anything on the right side. I do this
through questions such as In a workable life, what would you do instead
of your actions in the upper left quadrant? What would the stories that
fill a life that works be for you? What did you use to do before suffering
showed up? What did you do to move toward whats important? And if
you didnt have all this stuff showing in the lower left quadrant, what
would you do?
Validating Suffering
I unconditionally validate my clients experience of their suffering.
For example, I might say, I see that this is really painful for you and that
you feel totally stuck. Is this how it is for you? I find that validating suffering often opens the door to more flexibility on clients part. They
might then say, Well, yes, Im stuck. But I still manage to do a few things
on the right side. Unconditionally validating clients suffering allows
them to look at it for what it is: an experience of suffering, something in
the lower left quadrant. I invite them to slow down for a moment and
look at what this experience is made of, like a scientist observing a phenomenon for the very first time and taking inventory of the different
aspects of their experience of it. I also ask them to write the mental and
sensory aspects of their suffering on different-colored sticky notes.
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Being Stuck
Sometimes clients can be so stuck in suffering and avoidance that
they feel hostility toward the therapist. In turn, the therapist may feel
stuck in the left part of his or her own matrix. Being stuck need not be a
problem in itself as long as the therapist doesnt make a problem of it.
Ideally, the therapist can adopt a matrix perspective on his or her experience in the moment and initiate a toward move, for example, by sharing
with the client that he or she feels stuck and is having trouble connecting with the client. In this situation, I may then ask, And how is it for
you? This invites clients to notice their suffering (lower left) and away
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Celia
Having described the skills that the matrix can cultivate, I will now illustrate them with examples from my clinical practice, starting with Celia,
a ten-year-old who wont touch doorknobs. Her compulsions are a major
impediment to her.
Therapist: Look at this little diagram I call the matrix. What you
dont like is on the left, and what you really want to do
is on the right. So what do you put on there?
Celia: To the left, doorknobs!
Therapist: And what do you do when you see a doorknob?
Client:
Therapist: And what happens when you dont want to touch it?
Client: I get stuck and I cant do what I want.
Therapist: Good. You noticed that. And what do you really want
to do?
Client: Id like to do all the things I want to do.
Therapist: Good. And whats stopping you?
Client: The doorknobs. Everybodys touched them!
Therapist: Oh yes, your head tells you this. And when your head
says this, what do you do?
Client: I get stuck!
Therapist: Good, you noticed that. And does that move you
toward or away from what you really want to do?
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Client: Away.
Therapist: Good, you noticed that too. So on the left is what gets
you stuck, and on the right what you really want to do.
What do you choose? Do you do what your head tells
you and get stuck, or do you do what you really want to
do?
Client: Id choose what I really want to do, but my head tells me
fifty people have touched this doorknob!
Therapist: I see this is hard for you. Heres a little exercise that
could help us. Try to have the thought I cant raise my
hand, and when you have it, raise your hand to show
me. Okay?
Client: Okay. (Raises her hand.)
Therapist: Good. And what did you notice?
Client: Well, I was thinking that I couldnt raise my hand, and
still I did it.
Therapist: Yes. Do you see a connection with what youre thinking
about doorknobs?
Client: That I could not always do what my head says?
Therapist: Good. You noticed that! So, Celia, when your head tells
you to do something on the left and what you really
want to do is on the right, could you practice noticing if
you can see both sides of your matrix, and then see if
you can choose what you dowhether on the right or
on the left? What counts is that you can choose,
because when your head tells you not to touch the
doorknob, does it give you a choice?
With Celia, I conducted a contextual functional analysis from the
very first session, using the matrix as the perspective from which to
conduct the clinical conversation. Celia went home with a small paper
matrix and instructions to practice noticing when the matrix showed up
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in her life. In other words, I invited her to conduct her own contextual
functional analysis every time anxiety showed up in her life.
Celia came to the second session with functional contextual stories,
such as My head was saying fifty people had touched the doorknob, but
it was important to me to get through that door to do what I really
wanted. First I avoided touching the doorknob because of fear, but it was
still important to do what I really wanted. I saw the two sides, left and
right, and I saw that opening the door was possible. So, even with the
fear, I touched the doorknob.
Michael
Michael is stuck at home. He has anxiety attacks that bring tremors and
uncontrollable head shaking. Hes lost his job and lives on welfare. After
presenting the matrix and its perspective on a life that works, I initiated
this dialogue.
Therapist: Given the stuff that shows up, how is your life working?
Client:
Therapist: Living on the left, thats when all of our actions are
linked to our suffering and fears, when everything we do
is in the service of moving away from anxiety. Is this
how it works for you?
Client: Yes, I spend all my time worrying about when the next
anxiety attack might happen.
Therapist: And does that stop you from doing things that would be
important to you?
Client: I dont do anything anymore. I dont even see my friends
anymore.
Therapist: Ouch. Whats important to you that gets left behind?
Client: I dont do anything anymore. I didnt even go to my
dentist appointment for fear of an anxiety attack.
Therapist: Could you describe to me how these attacks feel?
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Corrina
Corrina is a forty-seven-year-old woman whos been suffering from loneliness since the breakup of her twenty-five-year marriage. She says her life
is over. She cries a lot and feels utterly stuck in despair.
Client: Its been a year since my husband left me, and Ive lost
all zest for life.
Therapist: Where does this go on your matrix?
Client: Ive lost all zest for life, thats suffering, so to the
left. Its like last Sunday: I went on this outing with
a group of people who like impressionist art and I
felt so bad. I cant feel good with other people
anymore. I should have stayed home and watched
TV. It would be better if I simply disappeared. (Sobs.)
Therapist: I see that theres a lot of suffering around connecting
with others. When suffering is very intense, it can make
us feel stuck and become rigid. I too feel stuck when you
tell me this. Is that also how it is for you?
Client: Yes. I cant feel good with other people anymore. I dont
feel like going out anymore.
Therapist: And where does that go on your matrix?
Client: On the left. Its linked to my suffering.
Therapist: And what did spending the afternoon with this group
allow you to do? What was on the right? What was
important?
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Client: We visited the museum and learned about this painter,
Courbet. I could share with others in the group. I could
never share about art with my husband.
Therapist: Im touched that you would share with me that art is
important to you. And where does sharing about art go
on your matrix?
Client: On the right side.
Therapist: And as we talk about this together, does it make us
move closer to or further away from one another?
Client: Closer.
Therapist: Im also noticing that it brings us closer, so thank you
for sharing about art.
Client: Yes, I really like art. But my husband never had an
interest.
Therapist: Could you notice, as you were on that museum outing,
that two types of experiences were present, on the left
and on the right?
Client: Yes. But I feel horrible, and it would be better if I
disappeared.
Therapist: When suffering is very intense, our minds can suggest
that we should escape our suffering by whatever means,
including suicide. Is that how it is for you? And where
do you see that on the matrix?
Client: I dont want to feel this pain inside. Thats in the lower
left corner.
Therapist: And yet does sharing about art with others count less
when the pain is there? Does it bring you closer to or
further away from other people?
Client: Its important and brings me closer.
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Gina
Gina is thirty-three years old and has lived with her partner for three
years. She dearly wants children, but her partner has already fathered
two daughters and doesnt want more kids. She resents it but is afraid to
discuss it with him. Heres an excerpt from our first session.
Therapist: Theres a lot of suffering around your wish to have
children.
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Therapist: Its moving to see how painful it is for you. I was moved
when you told me how important it is for you to have
children. Im wondering whether you could also do this
with your partnerif he too might be moved if you told
him.
Client: Yes, but its not possible. He doesnt want to hear about
it.
Therapist: And where are you in your matrix right now?
Client: On the left.
Therapist: And what would moving toward whats important look
like?
Client: But Ive already told him Im an honest person, and if
we ever separated, Id let him see his children.
Therapist: And is that on the left or on the right?
Client: Well, its linked to my fear, so its moving away.
Therapist: Well noticed. Arguing is often in the service of controlling fear. What impact does it have on your partner
when you argue?
Client: He starts arguing back.
Therapist: And where are both of you on your matrices?
Client: Were both on the left.
Therapist: What would moving to the right look like?
Client: Well, I could tell him that I understand its hard for him
to think of having children againthat I can see its
not easy for him. I could ask him if its important for
him to have children and what he could do if he had
more children.
Therapist: Yes. You could ask him to show you his matrix. You
could validate what he feels and help him notice the
different aspects of his experience. You could also show
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Conclusion
I hope that by sharing around my use of the matrix diagram in my practice as a psychiatrist in private practice, Ive given you a sense of the
flexibility of this model. In my experience, its the model thats allowed
for the fastest progress toward a valued life for many of my clients.
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CH A P T ER 11
Procrastinating
Reading stuff on the internet
Making do without case
conceptualizations
Telling trainees they dont need
to conceptualize their cases
AWAY
TOWARD
Fear
Brain fog
Shame
Some constriction in the back of
my throat
How can these people do it?
Is there really any use to this?
Ill never be a proper clinician if
I cant do this
Do I really have to do this?
Honestly, whats the use?
MENTAL
EXPERIENCING
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Initial goals:
Five-Senses Experiencing
Q1 Q2
Therapist toward moves
Away
AWAY MOVES
TOWARD MOVES
WHAT/WHO IS IMPORTANT
Toward
D2
Maintaining factors :
Treatment plan :
Q4
D1
Q3
Inner Experiencing
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 IE
185
186
Notes:
Date
Consultation
Five-senses/Mental discrimination (D1)
Toward/Away discrimination ( D2)
Perspective-taking/Observer self (P)
Away moves/Experiential avoidance (Q1)
Toward moves/Committed action (Q2)
Contact with what is important/Values (Q3)
Suffering/Avoided content (Q4)
Contact with inner experience (IE)
Process tracking
Client strengths
Significant history
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
like to get married, but Linda is plagued by thoughts that hes too good
for her, that he doesnt know who she really is, and that if he did, hed
leave her. When shes alone with Ella, she sometimes fears she might hurt
her, especially if the baby demands attention when Linda is feeling down
and confused. She regularly phones her mother for support, but their
conversations always leave her feeling confused and angry, and with a
strong sense that her mom doesnt really care about her. She also regularly calls Jim for reassurance. He readily assures her that shes a good
mother, but lately shes started doubting that he could really mean it.
Shes convinced he has no idea how damaged she really is. She says her
objective is to regain her self-esteem so she can feel better and not be
such a burden on Jim and a danger to Ella.
During our first session, I heard her story and presented the matrix
model in broad strokes, suggesting there might be an alternative to trying
to hold back her thoughts and feelings lest she become submerged by
them and do things she didnt want to do. Using Jon Kabat-Zinns Surfing
metaphor (Kabat-Zinn, 2005), I likened her feelings to waves and suggested that Linda might be able to learn to surf so that she wouldnt be
submerged by the waves and might also be able to choose in what direction to surf. At the end of the first session, Linda asked me if she was
worse than other clients and if I thought she could be helped. I reassured
her she was no worse than others. In the second session, I presented the
matrix in more detail and invited her to start sorting her experience
around a difficult situation with Ella. She had some trouble sorting
actions as away or toward moves, as well as difficulties sorting inner
experience from five-senses experience. I gave her sorting exercises to
explore at home. At the end of the session, Linda expressed strong doubts
that she could be helped. I reassured her that she was making good
progress.
189
190
Feeling empty Feeling hopeless
Thoughts that Im not in my
place Fear of betrayal
Thoughts that I cant trust anyone
Thoughts that if Jim knew me
hed leave me Anger Shame
Guilt Sugar cravings
Lack of self esteem
Memories of abuse
D2
WHAT/WHO IS IMPORTANT
TOWARD MOVES
Treatment plan :
Toward
72 5 8 2
Q4
Practicing D2 toward/away
Q3
Feels
Practicing opening up and
D1 Feeling hopeful,
nothing in
trusting in the therapeutic
her body
scared and sad
relationship
Practicing recognising hooks and what I
Inner Experiencing
Jims willingness to provide reassurance
do next
Mothers unwillingness to validate
Practicing D1 5 senses/mental, then feelings &
and provide support, her blaming
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 IE bodily sensations, and eating mindfully
No job to go back to
Practicing flexibly noticing and choosing
Maintaining factors :
Away
Q1 Q2
Five-Senses Experiencing
Yelling
Blaming
Drinking
Reassuring
Taking drugs
Avoiding difficult
Going shopping
subjects
Bingeing - Eating sugar
Missing opportuCalling Jim for reassurance
nities to validate
Avoiding others/relationships
Trying to convince Callinging mum for support
Pushing too hard Clamming up
Quitting jobs
Attempting suicide
Not expressing my
doubts in therapy AWAY MOVES
Name :
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Therapist: Sure. I also have stuff I dont want to think or feel, and
sometimes I do things to move away from it. For
example, when you asked me to reassure you last time,
I noticed I was afraid youd think I was incompetent,
so I reassured you. So that goes in the other top left
box. Did my reassurance work?
Client: It did. But the minute I left your office, I started worrying again.
Therapist: Sounds like when you call Jim. And what happened
earlier today when I didnt reassure you but told you
I could see how hard this was for you?
Client: I liked that. I wish my mum could simply tell me this
sometimes. But she never does. Shes always trying to
tell me what I should think.
Therapist: Okay, so recognizing and validating your difficulties,
thats a toward move for me. Ill put it in that other box
at the upper right. Before I ask you about your toward
moves, can I add a couple more things in my away
moves box? (Linda nods yes.) Okay, sometimes I avoid
difficult subjects. I can also miss opportunities to
recognize your difficulties. And when I feel confused or
insecure, I have a tendency to try to convince. These
are my away moves.
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194
Lindas Values
At this point, we could complete Lindas matrix by having her notice
whats important behind her toward moves.
Therapist: So what would be important to you in doing these
toward moves? What important life domains would they
allow you to move toward?
Client: Well, for Ella, being a good mother to her. For Jim,
being a good partner, maybe wife. Having someone to
share my life with. Feeling good about myself.
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196
Significant History
For the purposes of conceptualization, significant history comprises
those elements of the clients history that have a bearing on the functioning conceptualized on the front of the worksheet. Heres what I recorded
for Linda:
35 years old. Partner Jim, 40 years old. Daughter Ella, 9 months old.
Physically abusive father. Invalidating and blaming mother.
Some self-mutilation, drinking, and drug use in teenage years and early
adulthood. Binge eating.
Dropped out of college after two years.
Forced to have intercourse in her first intimate relationship. String of
chaotic relationships leading to three suicide attempts.
Professional difficulties. Conflicts or quitting.
Relationship with Jim different. Hes kind and supportive. Became
pregnant by accident.
198
Client Strengths
This box allows for an interesting conversation with clients and
invites us to look at their valuable qualities. Some clients may have particular difficulties with this. The therapist can help them explore their
strengths.
Therapist: So, the last box for us to fill in is your strengths. What
would you say those are?
Client: I dont know. At times I think I only have weaknesses
and defects.
Therapist: Well, you had the courage to start a new relationship
even though youd been hurt so much.
Client: I guess so.
Therapist: And now the courage to start therapy again even
though it didnt work in the past. Can I write
courageous?
Client: Yes. Okay. You know, its hard for me to hear
compliments.
Therapist: Would it be a toward move to open up to the positive
qualities people see in you?
Client: I guess so.
Therapist: Excellent. So what other qualities and strengths might
people see?
Client: I love my daughter. In fact I came here because of her.
Therapist:
(Writes that down.) Great. What else?
Client: I love learning new things and discovering new places.
I used to love meeting people and going to ball games.
I just loved the atmosphere of togetherness.
Therapist: So love of learning and discoveries. People oriented,
likes being with others.
199
200
Q1
Rating
Q2
Q3
Q4
2
1
0
10
Session
Rating
7
6
D1
D2
IE
2
1
0
10
Session
201
Conclusion
The matrix diagram is well suited to helping clinicians conceptualize
clinical cases, share the conceptualization with clients, and make conceptualizing a collaborative enterprise. It can help orient clients to the
model and further train them to adopt a functional contextual point of
view on their difficulties. It can also bring down some of the common
barriers to case conceptualization that clinicians commonly encounter,
in particular by providing an alternative to more linear and sequential
modes of conceptualization. Practicing quantification of matrix
203
processes, discriminations, and quadrants can also give a good feel for
client progress. In the end, the matrix is a tool for increasing flexibility,
and the worksheet presented in this chapter is just one possible approach
to conceptualizing with it. My hope is that it may prove useful to you,
your clients, and your trainees.
Reference
Kabat-Zinn, J. (2005). Wherever you go, there you are: Mindfulness meditation in
everyday life. New York: Hyperion.
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PA RT 3
CH A P T ER 12
I have a point of view that I use when I work with people. Would you be
willing to let me show it to you? The sullen fifteen-year-old sitting next
to me in my office looks up and nods as I rise to approach the whiteboard
in front of us. He and his mother have come to see me today because hes
failing in school. Hes coming to our alternative educational program to
get a fresh start and possibly salvage his school year with the help of our
teachers and support staff. Together, he and I begin to sort his experiences onto the matrix. On the wall behind him hangs a movie poster
from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, showing Samwise Gangee
and Frodo amidst the ruins of a besieged city. They look lost, beaten, and
utterly confused, but also determined to press on.
Taking in the image of the student, the poster, and the matrix, I
notice that this is the context of my work with students, educators, and
parents. My valued direction is helping whomever is in front of me get in
touch with what is important to him or herhelping people learn for
themselves what works to get them where they want to go. They frequently present like the bewildered hobbits in the movie, not knowing
what to do. They have tried many thingsmostly things that havent
worked. What I have to offer are some simple words and actions, along
with as much flexibility as I can muster. The fact that someone is sitting
in front of me means that this person hasnt given up. We notice that and
see what shows up.
is they are failing in school, which is pretty much the most important job
anyone under eighteen can have in our society. Individually and collectively, they havent received much positive reinforcement for school-
based learning. Traditional learning environments have taken on aversive
functions, and avoidance is their default position. I have never been a big
fan of labels (nor are my students), and I immediately adopted the matrix
language view of them as stuck. Its as if theyre trying to get somewhere
using a faulty compass. The valued direction I move toward is our collective task as educators to help them get unstuck so they can more readily
come into contact with what is important and rewarding to them.
Learning is a natural process. Schools focus on verbal learning, but
we humans primarily learn from our experience through the process of
trial and error. We get on the bike, we wobble, we fall, and so on, until
we get it or perhaps move onto something else. Following my initial
exposure to the matrix, I was excited and eager to try it out. In our school
program my role is to provide counseling, consult with staff, and intervene with students who present with various crises. While I knew the
matrix approach had potential, it was nothing short of a paradigm shift,
since I came from a primarily psychodynamic or family systems model.
As far as I knew, the matrix hadnt been tried in schools before. Along
with my enthusiasm, I noticed my apprehension, my sense of inadequacy,
and thoughts like This wont work, They wont get it, and I dont know what
Im doing. I also noticed the thought If I want them to develop some new
skills, I need to keep developing mine.
My first new move when students presented for counseling or in
crisis was to turn to a previously unused small whiteboard and say, Hey,
let me show you this cool way of looking at things I just learned.
Presenting it in this way, from an open, accepting, nonjudgmental stance,
I wasnt telling them what to do, so willingness to listen showed up. We
talked; we sorted their toward moves, away moves, and five-senses and
mental experiencing onto the whiteboard; and they walked out more
psychologically flexible than when they came in. In the process, I experienced one of the many benefits of matrix use: it promotes flexibility in
the clinician or educator, as well as in the client or student. It has a bidirectional effect on psychological flexibility. I was engaging in different
behaviors with my students (working from the whiteboard, moving
around the room, getting curious about the functions of our shared languaging, and so on). The kids were in the room with me noticing both
209
their behaviors and their unwanted issues, and they were free to choose
what they would do with all of that. The urge to fix it was there for all
of us, and we were learning not to scratch it, instead creating space for
the students to come up with new behaviors and keep going.
As I developed a functional contextual point of view, I came into
contact with my own language-based traps. The students I work with
have exquisitely developed avoidance behaviors from years of not feeling
good about education or being rewarded for it. Working with them frequently results in my feeling defeated and beat up, as well. When students were sorting moving toward whats important (coming to school,
going to class, taking notes) and away from what they dont want (yelling
to get away from anger, sleeping to get away from sadness), I also noticed
my own toward and away moves. I could see and feel a difference in
working with the matrix process (including continuously noticing the
thought Its too simple!) as well as the pull to get into the stuck stories
the kids presented to me in words and deeds. I experienced that buying
the stories led to less flexibility in me and limited my problem solving. I
also experienced the matrix running inside of me. I was consistently
returning to the process of influencing my students and staff toward discovering what works for them.
210
students to work with and decided to include the teacher and educational assistant for maximum exposure. Running groups with folks struggling with self-control and attentional issues is daunting and can easily
become chaotic. Plunging in, I presented the matrix point of view on the
whiteboard. Each week we gathered and sorted our experiences onto the
matrix, and everyone hung in there. Having plenty of art supplies and
paper helped. Our shared experiences did the rest. Together, we practiced noticing our toward and away moves. We noticed our hooks and,
using the Passengers on a Bus metaphor (Hayes, Strosahl, & Wilson,
1999), we practiced driving our buses with our wanted and unwanted
passengers. Rambunctiousness, frustration, and confusion routinely
showed up, and we kept moving. It wasnt long before the kids asked to
run the group. A great way to learn the matrix is to teach it, so we gave
it a whirl. We decided to take turns so each had an opportunity to lead
our weekly sorting parties. If a new student entered the program, one of
the students ran the introductory session.
It was fun, and they were taking on the task of sorting their experiences and learning to cooperate, take turns, share, acknowledge different perspectives, and give feedback. The cool part was that none of this
was being explicitly taught or targeted. Prosocial behaviors kept showing
up week after week. My valued direction was simply promoting psychological flexibility, or as I called it noticing if what youre doing is getting
you where you want to go. To do that, I held the thought of getting
somewhere lightly and let the students be their own guides. Including
the staff in the group exposed them to the matrix in the service of
helping the students, and everyone got to see everyone else from a different perspective. Staff members were free to choose to use the matrix
elsewhere or not. Those that did use it began to use the language both
for themselves and their students, and it became a form of shorthand
communication, further enhancing collaboration.
Matrix Evolution
Curiosity and engagement go hand in hand with the matrix. My colleague
and talented case management partner Lynda Marasco was also beginning to use the matrix with her students and experienced the flexibility
it gave her. We had the beginnings of systemic interventions for
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that show up. We keep the groups small (four to six students), and the
time frame is around forty minutes. Lynda and I also collaborate and
process a bit after each group.
We begin by drawing the matrix up on the chalkboard or whiteboard
(see figure 12.1). I put up the crossed lines with the arrows on the horizontal line, write Toward and Away on either side, and label the vertical line with World of Behaviors and World of the Mind. I use my
words and actions to continually bring the focus to the matrix diagram.
We all take turns sorting. I usually go first. The key is to say yes to whatever the students are verbalizing, and then sort that into the matrix with
a question such as Where does what you just said fit on the matrix? In
this way, I groom awareness and give them credit for participation.
World of
Behaviors
3. What have I been doing
to the stuff thats
getting in the way ?
Is it working?
Am I moving closer to
whats impoertant to me?
Toward
Away
World of
the Mind
get at valued life directions. Kids say things like friends, family, fun,
education, and so on. Once we have a list, I say something like And all
of this is the important stuff that you move toward, adding, All people
have important stuff they notice themselves moving toward all of the
time. Most of the time it feels good. Students share what toward moves
feel like, and all of that goes onto the board (toward moves in the upper
right and their feelings about them in the lower right). I continue, saying
Sometimes when were moving toward important stuff, things show up
inside of us that get in the way of doing whats important to us.
I then slide over to the lower left and ask, What inside stuff, such as
unwanted thoughts, feelings, or memories, have you noticed showing up
inside you that gets in the way of moving toward whats important to
you? With new groups I may have to get things going by writing something like fear or anger as an example of something that shows up
inside. I might give an example like I sit in a traffic jam. Anger or frustration shows up inside me. I complain. The point here is that something shows up, we dont like how it feels, and we do something to get
way from it. Students usually list internal content like fear, anger, worry,
doubt, sadness, depression, or urges to do harmful things. All of that is
sorted into the lower left quadrant of the matrix.
I move to the upper left and ask, What kinds of things have you
tried to deal with your unwanted stuff, like to make it go away or get rid
of it? They typically say things like ignore it, think of something else,
yell, sleep, not go to school, or, for teens, smoke or do drugs.
Groups really get into this, and you can get a good list going. In matrix
language we call theseaway moves because they are things people do to
get away from what they dont want to have (think fusion here). After we
record the away moves, I say, So you feel X or have thought Y down here
(pointing to the unwanted stuff below) and come up here and do Z (an away
move) to get away from this stuff. Right? Does this unwanted stuff down
here go away and not come back, or does it show up again? Kids usually
say something like It goes away for a while or No, its still there, or
report that something else unpleasant shows up.
I start to draw arrows going from the lower left to the upper left and
back down again, illustrating an unworkable change agenda. As the
circle of arrows gets tighter and tighter, I say, So you dont want this stuff
down here, so you go up here and do this stuff (away moves), and then
you notice more stuff you dont want, and it kind of goes round and
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round until you feel stuck. I chat a bit about how everyone gets stuck
sometimes and say its okay to get stuck once in a while, but getting stuck
a lot doesnt feel good or work to get us where we want to go. Everyone
agrees that it doesnt feel good. Along the way I may also ask the question
Who is noticing this? Participants say I am or me, which highlights
that there is an I or me that notices what they are doing. I sprinkle
this question in often to encourage perspective taking and present-
moment awareness.
Next I slide over to the upper right and say, So what kinds of things,
moves, or behaviors do you want to do to move toward who or what is
important to you? Kids will say things like Talk to my mom, Hang
out with friends, Go to school, or Pay attention to the teacher. We
keep it simple. I then say, And you can notice the moves youre making
and how they work to help you get where you want to go. Noticing what
youre doing gives you choice about what you do next. You can notice
yourself moving toward whats important to you and take your unwanted
stuff with you. For example, you could have the thought I dont want to be
here yet still be in class. You could have the feeling of being bored and do
your work. You could be angry or sad and talk to a friend. You could also
keep doing things to get away from what you dont want and see if that
works to get you where you want to go. Future discussions are in the
service of everyone noticing and sorting what were saying onto the
matrix. We also notice our hooks (lower right and left), since hooks can
take us either toward or away.
When I mention homework, the typical response is ugh! I say, You
can either do it or not do it. Its fine either way. The homework is to
notice what you do and whether its a toward move or an away move. If
they do the homework, they get credit. If they dont, they get credit for
noticing that they didnt do it, and then we notice what they did instead,
taking us back into the matrix process. We also notice if any hooks
showed up.
All of this is all done collaboratively from an open, accepting stance.
We dont tell the kids what to do. We want them noticing what they do
and sorting their experiences onto the matrix. Once they get the basic
language down, such as toward moves and away moves, they learn to
notice their behaviors. The key is to stay in process through responses to
their statements: So when you put your head down in class, was that a
toward move or an away move? So you went out to the movies with
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your friends and took your sadness with you. Where would you put that
story on the matrix? Is that a story where you have lots of choices or few
choices? The kids learn to sort their experiencesbehaviors up top,
and thoughts, feelings, images, and memories belowand become aware
of the toward and away functions of their actions. Flexibility increases,
and they come up with more behaviors (derived relational responding) to
keep moving in valued directions.
Once kids get the process down, the groups more or less run themselves. Prosocial behaviors show up. For example, they help each other
notice their moves, come up with solutions, and try new behaviors.
School attendance and compliance among group attendees improves significantly. We even overhear conversations in the hallways about toward
moves versus away moves and being hooked. Its fun and rewarding, and
you can plug in your favorite ACT exercises for added enjoyment.
Matrix Derivations
Here are some other examples of how learners and educators have used
the matrix:
A struggling ten-year-old student notices that when he goes to
class, looks at his teacher, does his work, and so on, he feels good
and wants to do it more. He also notices that, in response, his
teacher smiles at him and helps him.
After several months of sorting, a learning-
disabled middle
school student notices that shes disturbing others in her efforts
to move away from her anger. She has the thought Maybe I
shouldnt do this and chooses on her own to reengage in the
lesson.
A high school teacher has an image of the matrix in her head as
a student fires provocative questions at her. She notices the urge
to move away from both her anger and the student and pauses.
She begins to slowly and calmly respond in more detail than the
student wanted, obliterating the insults and the challenge. She
also notices that the class is more attentive and tuned in to her.
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Conclusion
Three characteristics define a learner in trouble: they act before thinking; theyre disorganized; and they lack attention to detail. My experience as a clinician and practitioner is that the matrix addresses all of
these issues. Promoting psychological flexibility with the matrix enhances
mindful awareness and choosing valued actions, organizes the learners
experiencing, and improves attention in real time with no agenda other
than what the learner brings to the table. Each act of matrix sorting
noticing toward versus away moves, and noticing sensory experience
versus internal experience versus who is noticingis a brief flexibility
training. How much training someone needs to get unstuck and engage
in more valued behaviors is highly dependent on the individual and the
context. It may take a few sorts, or it may take hundreds. When I asked
the student I met with at the beginning of the chapter what he did with
his unwanted stuff, his response was I live it in me. Then, with a big
smile on his face, he added, I dont know where that came from!
The matrix helps learners of all ages notice and analyze the function
of their own behaviors while targeting the core ACT processes of cognitive defusion, acceptance, present-
moment awareness, observer self,
values, and committed action. I tell people, Using the matrix teaches
you how to fish. I see again and again how learners and educators are
loosened up from aversive control and move toward increased appetitive
functioning. This is knowledge gained through experience, not through
textbooks or curriculums, and its pointed toward growing and thriving.
Rather than having the goal of imparting knowledge, we can use this
point of view to influence individuals and groups to go out and discover
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the knowledge and experience that works for them. This is influence
with precision, scope, and depth. From just two crossed lines and a few
simple words and actions comes limitless variation at the individual,
group, and organizational level. Pretty cool stuff.
Reference
Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D., & Wilson, K. G. (1999). Acceptance and commitment therapy: An experiential approach to behavior change. New York:
Guilford.
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CH A P T ER 13
I have been particularly impressed by how versatile and swift the matrix
can be in getting the ACT point of view across.
Soon enough, team members start making jokes about their own thoughts,
a sign that theyre taking a different perspective on the minds workings.
The matrix ignites the power of the ACT processes and allows team
members to quickly learn hexaflex skills without the trainer having to
mention theose skills by name. In short, people learn how they can focus
on whats important to them and act upon it while taking all these pesky
emotions and thoughts with them. ACT books invariably advise clinicians to instigate experience rather than talk theory. Because of the way
the matrix is designed, you dont have to talk about it at all; you can just
let people experience what it can do for them. In fact, if youre only just
starting to work with ACT, using the matrix might help you develop your
ACT skills much more easily.
One of the rewarding consequences of working with this model is
seeing that, by the end of a workshop, participants are often looking at
moving toward their values in areas beyond their professional life. They
start looking at how to do more toward moves in their personal life, which
in turn has a positive impact on their functioning in the workplace.
In Practice
In this section, Ill discuss a couple of case examples that illustrate the
versatility of the matrix in organizational settings.
We have judgments toward each other that stand in the way of good
collaboration, but we dont dare express them because we dont want
any conflicts.
We want more openness and closeness toward each other, with
respect for everyones abilities and personality.
We want to find a way to implement the new policy together.
This team was undergoing profound changes. It had previously been
tasked with structuring leisure activities for underprivileged children,
and team members had been recruited on that basis. Now, with the
arrival of a new regional coordinator, the policy had changed. The teams
new goals now included teaching the children specific skills to help them
deal with particular challenges they faced. The team was now responsible for identifying each childs specific needs and providing the appropriate skills training.
Jans expectations were for team members to be open with one
another and for the team to become tighter. He wanted them to stop
thinking as individuals and start thinking as a teamsomething theyd
never done before.
The Workshop
I started off by telling the group that what they wanted to do with me
is against human nature: we dont like to be vulnerable and feel the associated anxiety. I explained that this was one of the important points of
view that wed be discussing that day. Then I started exploring the five-
senses versus mental experience axis. I gave everyone a candy bar that,
though it looked different, tasted the same as a very well-known one. I
invited them to hold it and imagine what the candy bar might taste like.
Then I told them that it actually tasted like the well-known candy bar
and invited them to notice what their mind did with that. After inviting
them to taste the candy bar, I talked about how we can have a very clear
image of a five-senses experience in our minds, but that regardless of
what that image is, it can differ from the actual five-senses experience.
I then shifted to the theme of the day, saying, Imagine you walk into
the office on a rainy morning and your colleague says Good morning in
a curter way than usual. What is your mental experience in that
moment? Next we looked at how the chatter of the mind makes it
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virtually impossible to perceive anything as a pure five-senses experience, particularly other peoples behavior. The mind will always color the
experience and add a running commentary. Thats how the mind works.
Laying this out seemed to allow Chrissie to explain, in a very vulnerable, nonaccusing way and for the first time, how she felt about the team.
She said she was okay with being laid off after more than twenty years in
the organization. She said she knew she didnt have what was required in
the new context. Despite the fact that she didnt feel others respected her
personality or abilities, she wanted to say that she didnt blame the team
or feel frustration toward them. Clearly, the individual coaching she had
received helped Chrissie express herself. Though Chrissie had been fired,
it was good for her and the team that she participated in the workshop.
It made working together during her notice period easier for both her and
the team.
I then gave the group some insight on how the mind works, using
Kelly Wilsons story of the blueberry bush (Wilson & DuFrene, 2009).
Two prehistoric men venture out on the savanna looking for blueberries.
One thinks every blueberry bush he sees is a bear and keeps retreating to
the cave they share. The other knows no fear and boldly makes his way
toward every seeming bush. For a couple of days he gorges on blueberries
while his friend hunkers, hungry and scared, in their cave. On the third
day, it turns out one of those bushes actually is a bear. We humans are
probably the descendants of the worried and cautious caveman, who
went hungry but survived.
Then, to help the group see how thoughts are not as easily controlled
as we might think, I asked them not to think of apple pie with ice cream.
Next we took some time to notice how the mind constantly judges things
and people around us.
At this point, we came back to the matrix and worked the right side
of the toward-away axis. We started listing the values that were important to participants as a team and as individuals. I put the following two
questions to the team: Imagine that your community work suddenly
came to an end. What would you want the teenagers and parents to say
about you? and Imagine youre leaving to go home, but on your way you
overhear your colleagues talking about how you participated today. What
would you hope theyd say about you? Next we looked at the top quadrant of their matrix and the actions they already did to move toward
these values in the team.
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Moving to the left side of the matrix, I asked the group what they
could see themselves doing as a team and as individuals that moved
them away from their values. We also summed up the feelings and
thoughts they noticed when they engaged in away moves. I asked them
to take a minute to think about this question: If what you want is an
open atmosphere, how can you be more open toward your colleagues
with all of these thoughts and feelings toward each other? At that point,
the group went quiet, so I asked them to look at the matrix on the whiteboard and share, if they were willing, how they felt upon seeing the list
theyd created. The conclusion was that they werent alone in how they
felt
that everybody has these kinds of thoughts and feelings, gets
hooked by them, and reacts to them. However, and importantly for a
team that wanted to create openness, they were already sharing fundamental things about themselves in the early stages of the workshop. They
hadnt realized that they were already doing what they wanted to achieve.
Finally, I asked everyone to fill in their own matrix and choose one
action they would commit to doing to move closer to the team. I suggested that the chosen action be about something important to them
that they werent acting upon. Afterward, everyone shared their matrix
and committed action with the group. I invited them to notice the judgments about one another that showed up and to see how they could
respond with a values-driven toward move. The openness experienced in
that moment was very powerful and brought everyone closer together.
And whereas in the morning the team had barely responded to Chrissie
announcing her termination, by the end of the day they could tell her
how theyd appreciated her participation and empathically reflect how
hard the day must have been for her. They even told Jan that the organization needed to take good care of Chrissie during her notice period.
The Aftereffects
That evening after the workshop, I received a message from Jan:
After that team session, I want to end this magical day with the following philosophical words: When my senses fall asleep, the sheet of feeling
covers me and I realize with tears of joy that Im happy to be alive. On
behalf of our team, thank you Annick. Im sharing his message to illustrate how meaningful just one day of working with the matrix can be.
Bart didnt get fired. He and Jan had a long talk the day after the
workshop. They used the matrix to give one another feedback in a
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values-driven way. The matrix also helped them stay in the present
moment and in contact with each other instead of getting hooked by
everything that went on in their minds. For the first time, Bart could
speak openly about what hed felt during this difficult time of change and
how he really wanted to stay on the team. He could also admit to himself
and to Jan that he needed to acquire new skills if he wanted to stay. His
commitment to doing so allowed Jan to keep him on. Jan also made some
changes in the team and assigned Bart to a new position within the team
where he could best use his abilities.
A few weeks after the workshop, Jan told me that during a meeting
someone in the team had reverted to the old habit of communicating
without taking the feelings of other team members into consideration.
The rest of the team responded in a way that helped the person see that
he was appreciated, but that they didnt like this behavior. Before the
workshop, none of the team members would have even considered doing
that, and if they had tried, a heated argument probably would have
broken out immediately. Instead, the person apologized and worked to
change his behavior.
Session 1
To begin, I set up the matrix on a whiteboard, and as in the workshop described above, we started working on discriminating five-senses
experience versus living in your head. I took some time to do exercises
that would help participants notice how the mind works. We looked for
examples of judging, making predictions, and so on, and throughout the
session we regularly paused to notice what showed up for participants
around our work in the momentwhat thoughts and feelings they were
experiencing.
Next we looked at the toward and away axis, starting with whats
important. I took quite a bit of time to work on the process of creative
hopelessness. We talked about how we humans can easily lose sight of
what matters to us when were hooked by our thoughts and emotions and
struggle to avoid them. In the moment, its natural to want to move away
from whats bothering us, but this also usually means were moving
further away from ourselves and what matters to us.
I ended the session by explaining that the purpose of the matrix is to
allow us to notice what were doing so we can choose if we want to shift
our focus or not. Then I invited participants to notice their toward and
away moves and to practice sorting five-senses and mental experience
over the next week.
Session 2
I started the second session by going over the matrix again and
having participants fill it in as a group. In this session I also invited participants to become aware of their level of engagement toward this training: Did they do their noticing homework? Had they started applying the
suggestions in daily life? As it turned out, they had started using the
matrix, and not only in school, but also in other difficult areas of their
lives.
Next we worked on defusion using the concept of hooks. I explained
that hooks are thoughts, emotions, or memories that show up and have
a quality that, when we bite, we tend to get violently pulled away from
the present moment and into actions that are rarely those the person we
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Session 3
In our final session we used the matrix to look at participants experiences over the past week. We also practiced some expansion strategies
as a way to help make room for feelings of stress and to enhance the
ability to notice whats important in stressful situations.
The Aftereffects
I received spontaneous e-mails from four of the six participants
saying that, as a result of the workshop, they avoided less, were more
focused on what worked for them, were moving closer to their values,
and were applying these tools in many different situations.
Unhooking
If you get hooked and are pulled to away moves, use your defusion
skills to unhook. Heres an exercise I came up with that works for me. I
imagine a theater in my mind, with red velvet curtains and chairs. I am
the audience. On the stage stands a row of empty chairs with golden
armrests and red velvet cushions. Every time Im aware of a thought
popping into my mind, such as What if? or Will I be able to? I invite
it to take a seat and wait for the others to arrive. Ive noticed that every
time a new pesky thought pops up, by the time it takes its seat the other
thoughts have already disappeared.
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results. Models are only of interest to the extent that they work.
Pragmatism is built-in. ACT is based around six processes of inflexibility
versus flexibility. Laying these processes out in detail may try the tolerance of people looking for quick and concrete help. In such contexts, the
matrix is a compact, powerful tool that allows for adaptable work with
the ACT processes. It quickly promotes psychological flexibility and
itself is flexible enough that it can be modified to fit the contexts and
situations in the training room and in peoples lives. With the matrix,
not only do people learn how to deal with stress and conflicts, but by the
end of a workshop collaboration is typically strengthened and a stronger
group identity emerges. Participants have gained psychological flexibility
as individuals and as a group, which makes teams stronger and tighter.
The matrix can help trainers stay flexible and identify where in their
matrix they are at any given moment, helping them model, instigate, and
reinforce flexibility. Based as it is on normal functioning, it allows for a
quick setting up of a perspective in which all people can recognize that
their inner experience and what they dont want to feel or think is part
of their common humanity. Although the matrix is pragmatic, it allows
for a firm focus on whats important and thus injects deep meaning into
interventions. This focus on values also means that matrix interventions
are ultimately in the service of each and every participant moving toward
whats important individually, rather than submitting to company or
management values and imperatives. In this way, it can quickly overcome the distrust that interventions focused on making employees fit the
mold can rightly elicit.
Conclusion
Ive found the matrix to be an ideal tool for interventions in organizations for many reasons:
It can help set ground rules for conducting an effective meeting.
It can help manage major changes in an organization.
Its an effective tool for conflict resolution.
It can help build team purpose and effectiveness.
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References
Flaxman, P. E., & Bond, F. W. (2006). Acceptance and commitment therapy
(ACT) in the workplace. In R. A. Baer (Ed.), Mindfulness-based treatment
approaches: Clinicians guide to evidence base and applications (pp. 377402).
Burlington MA: Elsevier Academic Press.
Hayes, S. C., Bond, F. W., & Barnes-Holmes, D. (2006). Acceptance and mindfulness at work: Applying acceptance and commitment therapy and relational
frame theory to organizational behavior management. London: Routledge.
Wilson, K. G., and DuFrene, T. (2009). Mindfulness for two: An acceptance and
commitment therapy approach to mindfulness in psychotherapy. Oakland, CA:
New Harbinger.
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CH A P T ER 14
In this chapter, Ill quickly review the origins of acceptance and commitment training and therapy and then discuss how acceptance and commitment therapy and especially the matrix are directly connected to the
evolutionary process. To do so, Ill quickly run through functional contextualism and relational frame theory; touch on the evolution of language and ACTs approach to the problems language can cause; take a
brief look at the social ramifications of these processes and Elinor
Ostroms eight core design principles for optimal group functioning; and
land right back on ACT and the matrix.
Functional Contextualism
ACT is based on functional contextualism, a scientific point of view that
seeks to increase the frequency and variety of behaviors that work to
improve the human condition. It looks at a human behavior (action) in
context, and in that regard the whole human is the action. This is like
seeing someone walking (action) down the street (context). You dont see
a body and a mind walking down the street; you see one whole human
being walking down the street. Also, from a functional contextual
perspective, when a human uses language, it is the whole human
behaving, head to toe. So the person walking down the street might
pause and talk to us; its the whole human talking to us, not a mind plus
a body. To help lessen human suffering, improve the human condition,
and enhance evolution, we strive to predict and influence behavior with
precision (with the fewest symbols), scope (across contexts like home,
school, and work), and depth (psychologically, sociologically, and
anthropologically).
Functional contextualism is most often contrasted with mechanism,
which has its roots in Newtonian physics. Newtons ideas have been very
fruitful for humans. His equations led to the industrial revolution and
helped shape our understanding of the universe. Using Newtons equations, we can predict with great accuracy the movement of objects like
bicycles, cars, and planets. It was only natural that the predictability
within Newtonian physics found its way into explanations of human
behavior, to the extent that language like the following has become
common: That other driver really made me angry; I had no choice but
to honk my horn and give him the finger! Said another way, the other
driver caused the anger, which then caused the behaviors of horn
honking and gesturing. When pressed, almost everyone would agree that
there was a choice of whether to honk the horn or not and whether to
give the finger or not. But many would still maintain that the anger was
caused by the other driver, which means the other driver has taken away
the persons choice of emotion. In the greater scheme of things, this artificial, mechanistic removal of choice can limit the human condition.
Functional contextualism is more in line with the approach of
another great thinker: Charles Darwin. While Newton was concerned
with planets and rocks, Darwin was writing about how living things
arrived at both their physical form and their behaviors in a given environment. The combination of physical form and behaviors in the environment could have life-and-death consequences for a single organism or
a species. Organisms live in a Newtonian physical world, yet how their
behaviors and physical forms transform through the ages cant be predicted through Newtonian physics. Darwin saw that three processes
came together to shape the evolution of any living thing: variability
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seem to be living inside the mind and not paying attention to real-world
facts. And people often suffer horrible pain as they struggle to avoid
imaginary demons in the mind. The trick is to lift people out of excessive
mental experiencing when such thinking is becoming too restricting and
harmful.
Language Is Social
Language probably evolved in humans for social functions. One was
to help protect us and others, for example, by yelling, Watch out!
Another was to make babies, by saying stuff like Hey good-looking,
want to hang out tonight?
While languaging is social, its done from the me point of view, as
in me over here and you over there. Once the me showed up as language, people could talk to others (me to you) and to themselves (me to
me). Since language is great (to a point) for symbolically dividing things
up into categories, such as trees, shrubs, predators, rocks, and so on,
eventually the self was divided up into the categories of me and mind.
From an outsiders perspective, thats just silly; in the outer world, it looks
like one person behaving. From inside the skin, the separate selves make
sense thanks to social language. Said another way, to use language I need
someone else to talk to, so one part of me talks to another part of me.
From the perspective of your own language, theres always more than one
of you in the room, even when youre by yourself.
This artificial language-based separation of the self into at least two
parts is important because of Newtonian and Darwinian thinking. If we
apply Newtonian thinking, one part of the mind causes another part of
the mind. For example, the sentence How you think determines how
you feel applies Newtonian determinism to the artificial, language-
based separation of self, as if thinking were a cue ball striking the emotion
ball and sending it in a predictable emotional direction. But in reality,
there is just one of each of us, and the whole human being behaves.
Thinking and feeling are of course related, but relation is not causation.
For example, most people would say that thinking Im a failure causes
sadness or some similar emotion. However, there are people out there
who might get pleasure from that thought.
The more a person believes that thinking one thing automatically
leads to a certain set of behaviors, the less psychologically flexible the
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person becomes. ACT and the matrix seek to reverse the inflexibility of
such languaging and increase peoples adaptive behaviors.
Human Conflict
A big part of language is classifying things in the right category.
Humans just love sorting things into the right categories, probably
because we get positively reinforced for things making sense. Therefore,
being right about how things are organized and categorized becomes
very important. People get into heated verbal spats (and sometimes physical fights) about whos right and whos wrong regarding how things are
categorized and organized. As this categorization and organization
process expands to determine how neighborhoods, towns, cities, states,
and nations are organized, we humans are at risk for lots of fights over
whos right and whos wrong about how things should be categorized and
organized.
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ACT is a way of interacting with others to lessen the bonds of language and get people more in touch with real-world consequences.
Mental consequences are still important; they just dont take precedence
over consequences perceived through our senses.
Recall the basic idea of RFT: that reactions to the physical world,
such as fear, pain, happiness, and love, get transformed into sounds
languagewithin a person. Since language is social, this gives us the
ability to have conversations with others about fear, pain, happiness, and
love, and about the wider world and ourselves. And because all of that
stuff is represented by sounds and such inside our minds, we can simply
recall events from the past and then have the emotions associated with
those events. Likewise, we can think about events in the future and have
emotions. Thoughts (internal sounds) and images show up and we have
emotions. One emotion that can show up independent of an environmental reason is fear, as when one thinks of a tiger and fear shows up.
In general, humans want to move away from fear. That makes evolutionary sense; moving away from real-world fear keeps a person alive for
the self, the group, and procreation. In addition, humans want to move
toward emotions like joy, love, and happiness. We can find some of those
feelings on our own, but we can find more with other people. We are a
social species, and were drawn to the good feelings we get with others.
Within me to me conversations, we can escape from danger and
pain or move toward joy and love. Life inside these conversations requires
little contact with the physical world. We can practically live our lives
inside them. However, getting stuck in your head is a problem because it
removes you from contact with consequences. Yet its one thing to talk
about people being stuck in their heads and losing contact with consequences, and entirely another to influence people out of their heads and
toward being engaged with consequences. Experience shows that simply
teaching people about the problem isnt enough. But how do we go about
engaging people in a process that lifts them out of the mind and into
noticing consequences?
Acceptance and commitment therapy was designed to be one way of
influencing people away from the stuckness of language and back into
noticing whats happening in the moment. In more evolutionary terms,
ACT is designed to get us out of our heads and back to noticing the
consequences of behaviors, both old and newhence the title of Steven
Hayess book Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life (2005). ACT is an
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dont want to be. Avoiding fear often doesnt get you where you want to
go in life.
Both toward and away behaviors can be very functional depending
on the context. For example, in the presence of danger (like the bees or,
even worse, a tiger), an away behavior can save ones life. However, language allows humans to recall a story of bees or a tiger to such an extent
that a human can avoid imaginary bees and tigers while sitting in the
living room. This probably isnt very functional from an evolutionary
viewpoint, given that we end up staying home to avoid these dangers.
The workability of toward behaviors is also subject to context. For
example, engaging in chitchat with a potential lover might be very workable on a sunny day in the park, but that same chitchat might not work
at all while sitting at a funeral.
The key, in terms of evolution, is for humans to notice the consequences of their behavior while in context, and that requires being open
to both sensory and mental inputs while engaging in both toward and
away behaviors. And being able to analyze the consequences of a behavior requires knowing ones values.
Community
Ive been focusing on an individuals behaviors in the context of the individuals values. However, humans are very social animals. One need not
look too closely to notice that humans cluster together in groups, communities, and citiesand for good reason. Much of human existence is
dependent on working together with other humans to solve the problems
of food and safety. Humans long ago learned how to cooperate and divide
labor into small parts, with the small parts coming together as a whole.
For example, one person might clear a field of trees and stumps, another
might plow, another might plant seeds, and so on. No single person is
responsible for the entire crop, and working together, the group can
produce much more food. Humans have turned this ability to the task of
creating machines that could do much of the work of producing food,
further multiplying the effect of individuals. Those machines led to more
machines, and so on.
A small group cooperating to produce food is an example of a group
sharing common resourcesland and waterfor the survival of the
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9. What kind of behaviors might you do in the group that would move
you away from the mental experiencing in the lower left? (Answers,
such as gossiping, not working, and naysaying, are written in the
upper left.)
10. What kind of behaviors can group members do to move toward the
shared purpose of the group? (Answers are written in the upper
right.)
Obviously, the tenth item can take a lot of time as group members
come up with individual duties and roles that can contribute to the
shared purpose. The group can do both loops as often as needed to maintain group functions.
10
10
Polycentric
Governance
10
Proportional Benefits
and Costs
10
10
10
Minimal Recognition
of Rights to Organize
Graduated
Sanction
10
Conflict Resolution
10
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Now lets take a look at a way in which the group can monitor its functioning according Ostroms eight principles. Figure 14.1 has a spoke for each of
the principles. The bottom spoke, Group Identity or Purpose, is the most
important and was addressed during the two loops around the matrix. So
now the group can turn its attention to the other seven spokes, learning
about each and assessing group functioning on each dimension.
Notice that theres a 0 at the center of the spokes and a 10 at the end
of each spoke, forming a rating scale that allows the group to rate functioning on each of the eight spokes. If all are at 10, the group is rolling
along. When one or more of the spokes is at less than 10, the group is
bumping along, and those spokes could use some work.
Conclusion
From a behavioral and political view, the approach briefly outlined here
increases psychological flexibility and group flexibility by helping the
members of a group step back and view their individual functioning
within the group from a more distanced perspective. From this perspective, they can learn to be flexible, and theyll feel safe in the knowledge
that sticky group processes can quickly be addressed with the matrix and
spoke diagrams.
From an evolutionary view, this approach increases the variability of
behaviors by enhancing psychological flexibility and group flexibility. It
also increases the groups awareness of the consequences of individual
and collective behaviors and provides a ready means of passing along
successful group behavior by allowing the group to show other groups
how they use the matrix and spoke diagrams.
References
Hayes, S. (with Smith, S.). (2005). Get out of your mind and into your life: The
new acceptance and commitment therapy. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger.
Ostrom, E. (1990). Governing the commons: The evolution of institutions for collective action. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Wilson, D. S. (2011). The neighborhood project: Using evolution to improve my city,
one block at a time. New York: Little, Brown and Company.
250
CONCLUSION
Going Viral
Kevin Polk and Benjamin Schoendorff
Thus far the matrix has made its way into mental health settings, prisons,
schools, businesses, communities, Olympic athletics, and summer youth
camps. By the time this book is published it will have made its way into
more settings. Within weeks after what was then called the grid emerged,
the two lines were being referred to as a virus because many people who
learned it were compelled to pass it on to others. It began with people in
mental health groups sharing with their family and friends. Then students who learned the matrix in school shared it with their friends and
family. When we presented it to community groups, we soon heard of
more people showing the matrix to others. You too may have the irresistible urge to share the diagram with others, and we certainly encourage
you to do so.
From the beginning it was clear that after working with the matrix
diagram, people started coming up with cool new things to do to move
toward their values. Its wildly reinforcing to stand or sit in front of other
humans, show them a couple of lines, ask them just a few easy questions,
have them sort the answers into the categories, and see them quickly
derive new, more workable behaviors. We arent kiddingyou see the
deriving happening in front of you, and you get a huge rush of reinforcement when it does. At that point theres no putting the diagram down;
youre looking for your next fix. That reinforcement process drives the
viral aspect of the matrix.
The matrix is also evolutionary. Once people learn it, they find new
places and new ways to present it. In that sense, theres just no telling
where the matrix will go. Its already in the hands of a few thousand
people. With the publication of this book, it will be in the hands of thousands morereaders like you who will find new places to present the
matrix.
In our opinion, the most crucial place for the matrix to take off is in
the education system. Weve heard that many teachers feel stuck in the
role of classroom enforcers. Theyve been taught that a style of teaching
that conforms to the Newtonian perspective is the only way. They teach;
the students listen and learn. Above all, the students are to follow the
rules of behavior as if they were Newtons laws. Many students and teachers feel stuck, and maybe the matrix can help them find a way out.
Using the matrix in conjunction with Elinor Ostroms eight core
principles (1990; see chapter 14) can help classrooms come alive as students become responsible for their own behaviors, knowing when their
behaviors are moving them toward who or what is important to them
and when theyre moving away from unwanted feelings and disrupting
the learning process. In this way, classrooms could become places where
students and teachers alike engage in cooperative movement toward
individual and group aspirations. With the matrix diagram, such a
change is possible. It doesnt require special skills to present the matrix.
Teachers dont need to be incredibly adept student whisperers. They
simply need to learn a few basic skills for increasing psychological flexibility in the context of who or what is important.
We also see the matrix moving into the professional sphere and
helping workplaces become environments where people can start to
choose to move toward who or what is important to them. Introducing
the matrix can shift the perspective in the workplace, moving away from
trying to force employees to submit to the needs of the business or simply
reduce stress, and instead moving toward creating a space in which
everyone can flexibly adapt their behaviors to be more in line with who
or what they want to move toward. Team meetings around building and
implementing a team matrix could unleash workplace creativity as team
members evolve an approach to moving toward whats important for
them and for the team as a whole.
Finallyand you may say we are dreamerswe envision the matrix
making its way into society at large, helping all types of organizations
move toward psychological flexibility. The matrix is fundamentally nonjudgmental, so its use is unlikely to leave people stuck in conflict. Its
252
Going Viral
literally like learning to play a very simple tune on the piano. Almost
anyone can practice the notes and pauses until it sounds like beautiful
music and others cant resist joining in. With the matrix, that skill level
is just a few practice sessions away.
In closing, the future of the matrix diagram depends on a very ACT-
like question: Are you willing to have some discomfort and make some
mistakes while presenting the matrix to others? The more people who
can answer yes to that question, the more psychological flexibility will
spread. Lets give increased psychological flexibility a try and see how it
works.
Reference
Ostrom, E. (1990). Governing the commons: The evolution of institutions for collective action. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
253
Editor Kevin L. Polk, PhD, is a clinical psychologist who has been a practicing for twenty-three years, primarily helping veterans and others with
troubling trauma memories. For the past eight years he has dedicated
himself to the study of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT),
spending close to 20,000 hours studying the philosophy and theory
behind ACT, and learning and designing ACT interventions. He is a
peer-reviewed ACT trainer who is passionate about teaching others how
to use the matrix to increase psychological flexibility and valued living.
Find out more at http://www.drkevinpolk.com.
Editor Benjamin Schoendorff, MSc, MSc, is a clinical psychologist with a
passion for disseminating contextual psychotherapies. He is the author of
two French language books, an ACT self-help book, and a clinicians
manual based on the matrix diagram. A peer-reviewed ACT trainer, he
leads international workshops on integrating ACT and relationshipfocused functional analytic psychotherapy through the use of the matrix.
You can find out more at http://www.ipc-cpi.com.
Foreword writer Kelly G. Wilson, PhD, is associate professor of psychology at the University of Mississippi. He is a central figure in ACT, and
was one of the authors of the landmark Acceptance and Commitment
Therapy. Wilson is among the most sought-after ACT trainers. His
popular experiential workshops touch thousands of clinicians and students each year. Find out more at http://www.onelifellc.com.
Index
A
acceptance: chronic pain and,
103104; matrix for working with,
6769
Acceptance and Action
Questionnaire-2 (AAQ-2), 96
acceptance and commitment therapy
(ACT), 241243; chronic pain
and, 94106; comprehensive
distancing and, 158; functional
analytic psychotherapy and, 54,
5861; hexaflex diagram used in,
3436; in vivo exposure used in,
149; integrating with the matrix,
4852; modeling by trainers of,
229232; origins of the matrix in,
12; present-moment awareness
in, 160; self-as-context in,
160161; stress management
using, 221; values clarification in,
159
ACT Gone Wild, viii
actions: linked to values, 27, 100
102, 105, 137; motivations behind,
43. See also committed action
adaptation, human, 245
addiction: definition of, 7778;
substance abuse and, 78
addiction treatment: activities for,
8889; appetitive control and, 85,
86, 8789; aversive control and,
8586; challenges developed for,
B
basic assumptions, 1617
Bezila, Andrew, 213
biomythologies, 136
blueberry bush story, 225
body-mind conflict, 124
body scan exercise, 125
Bolduc, Marie-France, 57, 68, 184
Bulls-Eye Worksheet, 4344
Burkhart, Mary Alyce, 147
business settings. See organizational
settings
C
cartoon character voice, 51
case conceptualization, 181204;
alternative to linear, 183184;
client strengths explored in,
199200; clinician challenges
with, 182183; discrimination
repertoire evaluation, 188189;
example of using the matrix for,
187202; left side
conceptualization, 191193;
quantifying matrix processes,
196197; relevant contextual
factors in, 197198; right side
conceptualization, 193194;
significant history recorded for,
198; strengths and potential
difficulties, 202203; therapist
behaviors in, 185186, 195;
tracking progress based on,
200201; treatment guidance
258
Index
cultivation of, 50; eatingdisordered clients and, 123124;
matrix process and, 159
communities, 244245
comprehensive distancing, 158
compulsions, 169171
conflict: body-mind, 124; language
and, 240241
consequences, 237
contextual behavioral science,
134135
cooperation, 244245
couples work, 7375; combining
values in, 7375; home practice in,
75; noticing workable/unworkable
behaviors in, 74; perspective
taking in, 74; setting up, 73;
two-matrix perspective in, 180
creative hopelessness: chronic pain
and, 99100; workability
assessment and, 48
Curtin, Aisling, 41, 231
D
Darwin, Charles, 236
decentralized groups, 83
decisions vs. choices, 100101
defusion, 35; cultivating, 5051;
exercise used for, 231; hexaflex
processes and, 35; hooks and
moments of, 2627, 6667; matrix
for working with, 6667; sorting
related to, 158
deictic framing, 34
demographic details, 139
depression, 5859
derived relational responding: cued
by the matrix, 2834; explanation
of RFT and, 238; getting hooked
E
eating-disordered clients, 109128;
case example of working with,
112123; committed actions
engaged by, 123124; experiential
learning for, 126127; hooks
experienced by, 111112, 125, 126,
127; inner vs. mental experiences
in, 124126; the matrix used with,
111112, 113123; sensations of
hunger in, 124126; therapeutic
relationship with, 109110; values
clarification for, 123124
educational settings: matrix use in,
208220, 252; traditional learning
in, 209
emotions: definition of, 46; hooks
based on, 13, 46; identifying
unwanted, 46; thoughts related to,
242; watching reactions to, 4950
evolution: Darwins theory of,
236237; language and, 240
exercises: body scan, 125;
experiential noticing, 121122,
259
F
FAP. See functional analytic
psychotherapy
five-senses experiencing, 89, 1819,
4243
Flexi and Spiky characters, 6263,
6768
frames of opposition, 29
functional analytic psychotherapy
(FAP): FAP rap given in, 61;
integrating with ACT, 5861;
in-the-moment functional
analysis, 6061; the matrix and,
5455, 6061, 62
functional contextualism, 1617, 52,
235237, 243
G
generalization, 60
Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your
Life (Hayes), 11, 242
the grid, 8182
groups: addiction treatment in, 81,
8283; format and guidelines for,
8283; matrix work in, 8283,
247249; Ostroms principles for,
245246, 250; psychological
flexibility in, 246, 247248; school
setting for, 211212; training
leaders of, 90
260
H
Hambright, Jerold, viii, 2, 57
Happy Birthday tune, 51
harm reduction, 86
Harris, Russ, 43, 46
Hayes, Steve, 11, 158, 208, 242
heritability, 237
hexaflex diagram, 3436
home practice, 73; couples work and,
75; noticing hooks in, 157;
secondary school students and,
217; valued action and, 101102
Hook metaphor, 6667
hooks: chronic pain and, 103;
defusion exercise for, 231; derived
relational responding and, 2022;
eating-disordered clients and,
111112, 125, 126, 127;
educational settings and, 211;
emotions as, 13, 46; noticing, 13,
2627, 6667, 156158, 211;
trauma memories as, 157158;
unhooking from, 33, 231
human conflict, 240241
human mind, 102103
hunger, 124126
hypercontrol, 128
I
iGro system, 88
implicit sorting, 3637
in vivo exposure, 149
Individualized Generic Recovery
Outcomes (iGro), 88
Index
inner experience: explanation of, 68;
mental experience vs., 68,
124126; unwanted, 10
interpersonal processes: couples work
and, 7375; importance of, 5859;
matrix spotting in, 72; modeling
intrapersonal and, 59; two-matrix
perspective in, 178180
intrapersonal processes, 59
involuntary derivations, 32
IJK
Join the DOTS approach, 4647
just noticing exercises, 140
Kabat-Zinn, Jon, 188
L
language: double-edged sword of,
5253; evolution and, 240; human
conflict and, 240241; inflexibility
of, 239240; relational frame
theory of, 237241; social function
of, 239; traps based on, 210
learning: experiential, 126127;
natural process of, 209
left side work, 2830
loneliness and despair, 173175
loops around the matrix, 247249
M
Man in the Hole metaphor, 100
Marasco, Lynda, 212
the matrix, 8; addiction treatment
using, 8091; business use of,
221234; case conceptualization
based on, 181204; case examples
of using, 112123, 169180;
chronic and severe symptoms and,
138144; chronic pain and, 95,
261
N
nerves, embracing, 231
Newtonian physics, 17, 236, 237, 239
noticing: differences, 9, 1112; hooks,
13, 2627, 6667, 156158, 211;
practice of, 27, 160
O
observer perspective: self-as-context
and, 26, 3234; shifting to, 24
opting out, 47
organizational settings: ACT for
managing stress in, 221; benefits of
262
P
pain: ACT assessment of, 9496;
matrix for working with, 95,
96106; strategies used to avoid,
4647. See also chronic pain
pain matrix, 95, 96106; acceptance
and, 103104; creative
hopelessness and, 99100; human
mind and, 102103; illustration of,
95; overview of, 9798; Passengers
on the Bus metaphor, 105;
self-as-context and, 104105;
terminating therapy with, 106;
values identification and, 100
102; willingness and, 103104
Passengers on the Bus metaphor, 105,
212
Path Up the Mountain metaphor, 43
persistent behaviors, 130
personal away moves, 134
perspective taking: couple
communication and, 74;
experiential training of, 3234;
matrix for working with, 71
pervasive behaviors, 130
pliance, 26
point of view, 1819
Polk, Kevin, viiviii, 1, 7, 15, 43, 57,
81, 82, 147, 208, 235, 251
post-traumatic stress disorder. See
PTSD
present-moment awareness, 160
Index
private psychiatric practice, 163180;
examples of matrix use in,
169180; introducing the matrix
in, 164165; making space for
resistance in, 168169; reinforcing
toward moves in, 168; stuckness of
clients in, 167168; sufferingvalues connection in, 167;
toward-away discrimination in,
165169; two-matrix perspective
used in, 178180; validating client
suffering in, 166167
professional self, 134135
prolonged exposure (PE) therapy,
148149
Prompted Bulls-Eye Matrix
Worksheet, 4546
prosocial behaviors, 212, 213, 218
psychological flexibility: ACT and,
241; group behavior and, 246,
247248; hexaflex diagram and,
3436; long-term change and, 23;
matrix for increasing, 243;
modeling as ACT trainer,
229232; noticing hooks for, 211;
pain matrix and, 98105; point of
view and, 1819; school setting
and, 207220; self-as-context and,
161162; stretching toward, 10, 20;
warm-up for, 714, 247
Psychological Inflexibility in Pain
Scale (PIPS), 96
PTSD, 147162; avoidance cycle in,
148, 152155; experience of
trauma and, 147148, 150;
explanation of matrix processes
for, 158161; in vivo exposure
used for, 149; noticing hooks
related to, 156158; presenting
the matrix for, 150152; prolonged
exposure therapy for, 148149;
sorting process for, 156
Q
quantifying matrix processes,
196197
R
relapse patterns, 8586
relational frame theory (RFT),
237241; derived relational
responding in, 21, 28, 238; though
the lens of the matrix, 5254. See
also language
relational framing, 28
relationship-centered clinical
practice: couples work in, 7375;
the matrix used in, 6171; special
clinical skills in, 7173
resistance: behaviors indicative of,
131; making space for, 168169
RFT. See relational frame theory
right side work, 3031
risk, dealing with, 136137
Rodriguez, Emily, viii
root metaphors, 17
S
Saffer, Florian, 109
Schoendorff, Benjamin, 15, 43, 57,
181, 251
school settings: matrix use in,
208220, 252; traditional learning
in, 209
science, basic assumptions of, 1617
self, three senses of, 3233
263
264
T
teachers: matrix use by, 208220,
252; stuck in severe stress,
227229. See also educational
settings
teams, organizational: case example
of matrix work with, 223227;
overview of matrix use with,
222223
temporal frames, 29
Tenaglia, Phil, 207
terminating therapy, 106
therapeutic away moves, 133134
therapeutic relationship, 109110
Index
therapists: away moves of, 133134;
conceptualization behaviors of,
185186; modeling of
psychological flexibility by,
229232; personal matrix for,
109110, 131138; private practice
of, 163180; self-disclosure by,
6465, 72, 110; toward moves for,
134137, 230231; unwanted
mental experiencing by, 132133;
values identified by, 132
thinking: Newtonian perspective on,
239; thoughts distinguished from,
47
thoughts: definition of, 45; emotions
related to, 242; identifying
unwanted, 4546; thinking
distinguished from, 47; watching
reactions to, 49. See also mental
experiences
topographic diagnosis, 135
toward moves, 9, 2223, 3031; client
matrix, 142; clinician matrix,
134137; discriminating from
away moves, 165166; noticing in
away moves, 7172; personal
cultivation of, 230231;
reinforcing in clients, 168; shared
by therapists, 72, 195. See also
away moves
tracking client progress, 200201
training: addiction treatment, 90;
multiple exemplar, 25; perspective
taking, 3234; self-as-context,
3234
trauma: different responses to,
147148, 150; working on
memories of, 159160. See also
PTSD
tug-of-war example, 124
12-step programs, 79
two-matrix perspective, 178180
U
unhooking: defusion skills for, 231;
perspective taking as, 33. See also
hooks
unwanted experiences: inner
experiences, 10; mental
experiences, 4546, 132133, 141,
211
V
validating suffering, 166167
Valued Living Questionnaire (VLQ),
95
values, 10; actions linked to, 27,
100102, 105, 137; addiction
treatment based on, 81; Bulls-Eye
Worksheet, 4344; chronic pain
and identifying, 100102;
clarifying in matrix work, 159;
clients not caring about, 139;
clinician matrix and, 132;
eating-disordered clients and,
123124; emphasizing with
clients, 139140; matrix for
working with, 6970, 243;
mindfulness related to, 140;
suffering connected to, 167
Values as a Cube metaphor, 44
Vander Lugt, Amanda Adcock, 93
variability, 236237
verbal aikido, 1213
verbal learning, 209
Vincent, Jean-Michel, 163
W
Webster, Mark, 2, 15, 57, 77
White, Dawn, 213
WILD acronym, 87
willingness, 103104
265
XYZ
Yes, and? inquiry, 1213
Uploaded by [StormRG]
266
ACCEptAnCE &
GEttinG unstuCk
CoMMitMEnt thErapY
in ACt
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a clinicians guide to
problEMs
overcoming common obstacles
using mindfulness, acceptance in acceptance & commitment
Therapy
& schema awareness to change
interpersonal behaviors
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