Relating To Voices Using Compassion Focused Therapy

Relating to Voices helps people who hear voices to develop a more compassionate understanding and relationship with their voices. In this book, authors Charlie and Eleanor create a warm and caring tone for the reader and a respectful tone for their voices. With the help of regular ‘check-in boxes’, the book guides the reader towards an understanding of what voices are, what they may represent, and how we can learn to work with them in a way that leads to a more peaceful relationship. It offers a shift away from viewing voices as the enemies, towards viewing them as potential allies in emotional problem-solving. This approach may be different to some others that readers have come across, which can often be about challenging voices, suppressing them, distracting from them, or getting rid of them. The Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) approach suggests that we can learn to relate to both voices and ourselves in a way that is less about conflict and more about cooperation. This book will be a useful companion for voice-hearers as well as for their supporters and allies in their journey of self-help. It will also be of use to mental health and social service workers.

Research into the beneficial effect of developing compassion has advanced enormously in the last ten years, with the development of inner compassion being an important therapeutic focus and goal. This book explains how Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) – a process of developing compassion for the self and others to increase well-being and aid recovery – varies from other forms of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. Comprising 30 key points this book explores the founding principles of CFT and outlines the detailed aspects of compassion in the CFT approach. Divided into two parts – Theory and Compassion Practice – this concise book provides a clear guide to the distinctive characteristics of CFT. Compassion Focused Therapy will be a valuable source for students and professionals in training as well as practising therapists who want to learn more about the distinctive features of CFT.

There is good and increasing evidence that cultivating compassion for one's self and others can have a profound impact on our physiological, psychological and social processes. In contrast, concerns with inferiority, shame and self-criticism can have very negative impacts on these processes and are associated with poorer physical and mental health. The Compassionate Mind Workbook is for anyone who is interested in how compassion - in the form of ideas and practices derived from Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) and other approaches - may help us to engage with, understand and ultimately, try to alleviate suffering. CFT utilises both Buddhist practices and Western psychological science. It draws on neuroscience, insights into emotion regulation and identity formation, interpersonal psychology and a range of psychotherapeutic models. CFT-based interventions can help people with a range of mental health problems develop compassion for themselves, be open to the compassion of others and develop compassion for others. This workbook is a step-by-step guide to CFT, in which the chapters build your understanding of yourself, the skills that give rise to a compassionate mind, and ways to work with whatever difficulties you're struggling with in life. The exercises, prompts and case stories in this book provide an understandable and practical way to develop compassion.

Leading depression authority Paul Gilbert presents The Compassionate Mind, a breakthrough book integrating evolutionary psychology, new insights from neuroscience, and mindfulness practice. This combination of techniques forms a new therapy called compassion focused therapy that can enhance readers' lives.

Compassion Focused Therapy: Clinical Practice and Applications offers evidence-based guidance and extensive insight into the science behind compassion focused therapy. The first section of the book explores the evolution and physiological infrastructures of caring, and how compassion arises when humans use their complex cognitive competencies to address suffering deliberately and intentionally. With this framework and basis, the next sections of the book explore CFT applied to groups, specific interventions such as chair work, the importance of applying the principles of the therapy to oneself, the CFT therapeutic relationship, and a chapter offering a systematic review of the evidence for CFT. The third section offers a series of multi-authored chapters on interventions for a range of different mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, trauma, and many others. Being the first major clinical book on compassion focused therapy, with leading international researchers and clinicians addressing central problems, this landmark publication will appeal to psychotherapists from a variety of schools as well as being a vital resource for compassion focused therapists.

Reclaim Your Headspace and Find Your One True Voice As a hospital chaplain, J.S. Park encountered hundreds of patients at the edge of life and death, listening as they urgently shared their stories, confessions, and final words. J.S. began to identify patterns in his patients’ lives—patterns he also saw in his own life. He began to see that the events and traumas we experience throughout life become deafening voices that remain within us, even when the events are far in the past. He was surprised to find that in hearing the voices of his patients, he began to identify his own voices and all the ways they could both harm and heal. In The Voices We Carry, J.S. draws from his experiences as a hospital chaplain to present the Voices Model. This model explores the four internal voices of self-doubt, pride, people-pleasing, and judgment, and the four external voices of trauma, guilt, grief, and family dynamics. He also draws from his Asian-American upbringing to examine the challenges of identity and feeling “other.” J.S. outlines how to wrestle with our voices, and even befriend them, how to find our authentic voice in a world of mixed messages, and how to empower those who are voiceless. Filled with evidence-based research, spiritual and psychological insights, and stories of patient encounters, The Voices We Carry is an inspiring memoir of unexpected growth, humor, and what matters most. For those wading through a world of clamor and noise, this is a guide to find your clear, steady voice.

For therapists wishing to build their skills in compassion-focused therapy (CFT), this powerful workbook presents a unique evidence-based training approach. Self-practice/self-reflection (SP/SR) enables therapists to apply CFT techniques to themselves and reflect on the experience as they work through 34 brief, carefully crafted modules. The authors are master trainers who elucidate the multiple layers of CFT, which integrates cognitive-behavioral therapy, evolutionary science, mindfulness, and other approaches. Three extended therapist examples serve as companions throughout the SP/SR journey. In a large-size format for easy photocopying, the volume includes 24 reproducible forms. Purchasers get access to a Web page where they can download and print most of the reproducible materials.

This timely volume explores the range of personality traits and psychosocial deficits which are associated with the broadly defined construct of schizotypy. Describing schizotypy as a phenomenon that can be located on a continuum ranging from sub-clinical states to severe disorders, the editors have brought together experts in this field to discuss approaches to assessment, conceptualization, and treatment. This volume aims to provide a unique and clinically oriented perspective on schizotypy as a feature of personality and psychopathology. An essential resource for professionals, researchers, and academics the reader will gain knowledge of: Underlying maladaptive traits that can emerge as schizotypy Dimensional and transdiagnostic approaches to psychopathology Relationship to metacognition, mentalizing, attachment, self-criticism and interpersonal criticism

Emerging from cognitive behavioural traditions, mindfulness and acceptance-based therapies hold promise as new evidence-based approaches for helping people distressed by the symptoms of psychosis. These therapies emphasise changing the relationship with unusual and troublesome experiences through cultivating experiential openness, awareness, and engagement in actions based on personal values. In this volume, leading international researchers and clinicians describe the major treatment models and research background of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Person-Based Cognitive Therapy (PBCT), as well as the use of mindfulness, in individual and group therapeutic contexts. The book contains discrete chapters on developing experiential interventions for voices and paranoia, conducting assessment and case formulation, and a discussion of ways to work with spirituality from a metacognitive standpoint. Further chapters provide details of how clients view their experiences of ACT and PBCT, as well as offering clear protocols based on clinical practice. This practical and informative book will be of use to clinicians and researchers interested in understanding and implementing ACT and mindfulness interventions for people with psychosis.

Compassion Focused Therapy Participant Workbook is a companion book to Compassion Focused Group Therapy for University Counseling Centers, a one-of-a-kind 12-session manual for conducting compassion focused group therapy on college campuses. Compassion-based interventions have been shown to decrease symptoms of depression, anxiety, and psychological distress in students. This book’s 12 sessions incorporate several aspects of compassionate living including defining and understanding compassion, mindfulness, shame, assertiveness, and forgiveness to help participants act in more compassionate ways with themselves and others, lower feelings of shame and self-criticism, and engage in self-reassuring behaviors. The workbook provides clients with summaries of each session, handouts, and key exercises and, along with the manual, can be followed session-by-session or adapted according to the needs of the group. This workbook is designed to be used by clinicians and participants in a clinician-led group utilizing Compassion Focused Group Therapy for University Counseling Centers.