Shyness is a common problem that comes with a high price. If you suffer from shyness or social anxiety you might avoid social situations and may have trouble connecting with others due to an extreme fear of humiliation, rejection, and judgment. As a shy person, you may also experience panic attacks that make it even more likely that you’ll avoid social situations. With The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Social Anxiety and Shyness, the authors’ acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) program for overcoming shyness has become available to the public for the first time. This program has been found to be highly effective in research studies for the treatment of social anxiety disorder and related subclinical levels of shyness. In the first section, you will confront performance fears, test anxiety, shy bladder, and interpersonal fears—fundamental symptoms of social anxiety. The second part helps you learn psychological flexibility to improve your ability to accept the feelings, thoughts, and behavior that may arise as you learn to work past your anxiety. By keeping your values front and center, you will gradually learn to move beyond your fears and toward greater social confidence. This book has been awarded The Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Self-Help Seal of Merit — an award bestowed on outstanding self-help books that are consistent with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) principles and that incorporate scientifically tested strategies for overcoming mental health difficulties. Used alone or in conjunction with therapy, our books offer powerful tools readers can use to jump-start changes in their lives.

When we break free from negative self-talk and embrace a more expansive view of ourselves, there's no limit to what we can accomplish. In The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Self-Esteem, two internationally renowned acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) trainers help readers recognize how the self-critical stories they tell themselves can limit who they are. Using the evidence-based, practical skills in this workbook, readers will develop the self-compassion and self-acceptance they need to lead more fulfilling, values-based lives.

There are hundreds of books that will try to help you ''overcome'' or ''put an end to'' depression. But what if you could use your depression to change your life for the better? Your symptoms may be signals that something in your life needs to change. Learning to understand and interpret these signals is much more important than ignoring or avoiding them - approaches that only make the situation worse. This workbook uses techniques from acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to offer a new treatment plan for depression that will help you live a productive life by accepting your feelings instead of fruitlessly trying to avoid them. The Mindfulness & Acceptance Workbook for Depression will show you, step-by-step, how to stop this cycle, feel more energized, and involve yourself in pleasurable and fulfilling activities that will help you work through, rather than avoid, aspects of your life that are depressing you. Use the techniques in this book to evaluate your own depression and create a personalized treatment plan. You'll enrich your total life experience by focusing your energy not on fighting depression, but on living the life you want.

Sometimes we all need a little lift—something to put the bounce back in our step. If you are like many, you may struggle with self-confidence. You may also compare your successes and failures with those of others. If everything is going well in your life, this tactic may temporarily bolster your sense of self-worth. But what happens when things aren’t going so well? Based on the idea that true self-esteem is grounded in internal, rather than external factors, this book offers 50 easy-to-use mindfulness practices that will help you improve inner awareness and live a more fulfilled life without harsh self-judgment. Mindfulness can help you battle feelings of low self-worth by encouraging you to pay attention to your negative thoughts as they occur, accept them, and ultimately control of how you react to them. The exercises in this pocket-sized book are intended to be simple, brief, and powerful. These are practices to settle into each morning, perhaps before your cup of tea or coffee, and which can be sprinkled throughout the day when you are at work, play, or home. To help you keep track of your thoughts, the book also includes journaling exercises that will help you discover what actions may have led to feelings of positivity or negativity. By focusing on your own awareness and thought processes, you will begin to understand what factors cause you to feel bad about yourself, and honestly assess those factors without giving in to feelings of hopelessness. You will discover that true self-esteem has less to do with what the world is telling you, and has everything to do with what you tell yourself.

People of all ages, backgrounds, and circumstances struggle with low self-esteem. This long-awaited, fully revised second edition of the best-selling The Self-Esteem Workbook includes up-to-date information on brain plasticity, and new chapters on forgiveness, mindfulness, and cultivating lovingkindness and compassion. If your self-esteem is based solely on performance—if you view yourself as someone who’s worthy only when you’re performing well or acknowledged as doing a good job—the way you feel about yourself will always depend on external factors. Your self-esteem affects everything you do, so if you feel unworthy or your confidence is shaped by others, it can be a huge problem. With this second edition of The Self-Esteem Workbook, you’ll learn to see yourself through loving eyes by realizing that you are inherently worthy, and that comparison-based self-criticism is not a true measure of your value. In addition to new chapters on cultivating compassion, forgiveness, and unconditional love for yourself and others—all of which improve self-esteem—you’ll find cutting-edge information on brain plasticity and how sleep, exercise, and nutrition affect your self-esteem. Developing and maintaining healthy self-esteem is key for living a happy life, and with the new research and exercises you’ll find in this updated best-selling workbook, you’ll be ready to start feeling good about yourself and finally be the best that you can be.

Is anxiety and fear a problem for you? Have you tried to win the war with your anxious mind and body, only to end up feeling frustrated, powerless, and stuck? If so, you’re not alone. But there is a way forward, a path into genuine happiness, and a way back into living the kind of life you so desperately want. This workbook will help you get started on this new journey today! Now in its second edition, The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Anxiety offers a new approach to your anxiety, fears, and your life. Within its pages, you’ll find a powerful and tested set of tools and strategies to help you gain freedom from fear, trauma, worry, and all the many manifestations of anxiety and fear. The book offers an empowering approach to help you create the kind of life you so desperately want to live. Based on a revolutionary approach to psychological health and wellness called acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), this fully revised and updated second edition offers compelling new exercises to help you create the conditions for your own genuine happiness and peace of mind. You’ll learn how your mind can trap you, keeping you stuck and struggling in anxiety and fear. You’ll also discover ways to nurture your capacity for acceptance, mindfulness, kindness, and compassion, and use these qualities to weaken the power of anxiety and fear so that you can gain the space do what truly matters to you. Now is the time. Nobody chooses anxiety. And there is no healthy way to “turn off” anxious thoughts and feelings like a light switch. But you can learn to break free from the shackles of anxiety and fear and take back your life. The purpose of this workbook is to help you do just that. Your life is calling on you to make that choice, and the skills in this workbook can help you make it happen. You can live better, more fully, and more richly with or without anxiety and fear. This book will show you the way. -- Recent studies support for the effectiveness of ACT-based self-help workbooks as a low-cost treatment for people experiencing anxiety. (Ritzert, T., Forsyth, J. P., Berghoff, C. R., Boswell, J., & Eifert, G. H. (2016). Evaluating the effectiveness of ACT for anxiety disorders in a self-help context: Outcomes from a randomized wait-list controlled trial. Behavior Therapy, 47, 431-572.)

Despite ongoing criticism of strict beauty ideals, cosmetic surgeons and diet pill manufacturers continue to thrive and tolerance for body flaws seems to lessen every day. More and more people have begun to internalize a need for physical perfection. And the psychological distress that accompanies body image dissatisfaction leaves many individuals in a long-term struggle. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Body Image Dissatisfaction is a manual for practitioners seeking to help clients let go of self-judgment and preoccupation with body image. Mindfulness and acceptance approaches target the underlying anxiety and perfectionism that keep many trapped in destructive relationships with their bodies. This book presents a clear plan for showing clients how to clarify their values to help broaden their lives and refocus on what is most meaningful and vital to them. It presents a clear ACT protocol, complete with sample scripts, therapy exercises, case studies, and worksheets, for treating body image dissatisfaction. You'll learn from a wide range of clinical examples of body image dissatisfaction, some of which explore manifestations in medical populations. The treatment protocol in this book can be effectively applied to both men and women, across a wide age range.

Stress is a part of life—but it doesn’t have to take over your life. With this guide, you’ll develop the skills needed to help you manage difficult emotions, cultivate self-compassion, adopt positive physical and emotional habits, build resilience, and connect with your true values. Everyone experiences stress. From the moment we wake up in the morning to the moment we finally settle into bed at night, our days are packed with stressful moments—some big and some small—that can quickly add up and feel overwhelming. Unfortunately, you can’t escape stress. But you can change the way you relate to it. This important workbook will show you how. Written by internationally renowned ACT experts, The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Stress Reduction offers a powerful ten-week program for stress management drawing on the latest research in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and mindfulness. You’ll gain a better understanding of what stress really is, how it affects the brain and body, and what you can do to manage and reduce stress in your life. You’ll discover how to build resilience and set smart, effective personal goals that align with your values. And finally, you’ll learn to be more aware of how you deal with stress in the moment. Stress is an unavoidable side effect of being human in today’s fast-paced world. But with this workbook, you’ll build the skills necessary to keep stress in its place and live a more vital life!

If you have bulimia, you know what it's like to be locked in a battle with your body-and you know that whether you're trying to lose weight or struggling to end the bingeing and purging cycle, the same old fears and self-doubts keep coming back. The approach to moving beyond bulimia in The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Bulimia is different than other treatments you may have tried. Instead of encouraging you to avoid or fight against the conflicted feelings you have about food and your body, this workbook invites you to welcome and accept your deepest fears, learn to live with them, and put the things that are really important in your life first. Easier said than done? Definitely. But with this plan based in acceptance and commitment therapy, a proven-effective therapeutic solution to bulimia and other conditions, you'll develop the powerful psychological skills you need to move past bulimia and toward a more fulfilling way of life. The worksheets, exercises, and questionnaires in this book will help you: Determine the risks of continuing the bulimia cycle Identify the experiences and relationships that matter to you most Practice present-moment awareness Learn to accept your thoughts, feelings, and experiences as they come Recommit to living according to your deepest values

Stop comparing yourself to others—you’re special just as you are! In this fun, practical guide, you’ll learn how to silence your nit-picky inner critic, cultivate self-compassion, and discover what really matters to you. If you’re like many teens, you probably feel pressured to live up to the impossible standards set by our culture, the media, and even by your peers. After all, everyone wants perfect hair, a perfect body, cool friends, and good grades. But while it’s okay to strive to be your best, it’s also easy to get caught up in a never-ending comparison game that can feed your inner critic and rob you of your happiness. So, how can you break free from negative self-criticism and learn to appreciate your strengths? In Just As You Are, psychologist Michelle Skeen and her daughter, Kelly Skeen, offer simple tips to help you overcome feelings of inadequacy and unworthiness, stop comparing yourself to others, and be more open and accepting of all aspects of who you are. You’ll also learn how to be more aware of your thoughts and feelings in the moment using powerful mindfulness tools, and build a plan of action for the future based on your values. Sometimes it’s hard to see yourself with clarity and kindness. With this important guide, you’ll learn to move past your faults, celebrate your true strengths, and discover what really matters in your life. What are you waiting for?