60% of people dealing with depression are likely to be dealing with anxiety. If you’re anxious, you are also likely to be depressed.

In the case of fear-based struggles, it is much more common to struggle with different types of fears than a single one. So if you’re dealing with attacks, it’s also possible that you’re dealing with chronic worry, or if you’re dealing with chronic worry, it’s also possible that you’re struggling with fears of public speaking.

Traditional CBT focuses on treating a disorder such as social anxiety or depression. The problem with focusing on a single disorder is that the root cause of those struggles is not addressed.

A core characteristic of ACT is to focus on teaching you psychological skills to increase your well-being, mental health, and the quality of your life. Instead of focusing on a diagnosis, ACT tackles the drivers of that particular diagnosis; therefore, ACT by nature is what is called a process-based model.

Key Takeaways

In this conversation Joseph Ciarrochi, Ph.D. and I discuss:

• The different psychological processes that are part of any struggle we deal with.
• The relationship between psychological processes and evolution.
• The importance of variation, selection, retention and context as drivers of changes
• The challenges of letting go of “all those stories about who we are.”
• The importance of paying attention to our physiological responses when getting stuck
• Six dimensions of any psychological struggle: (a) Motivation, (b) overt behavior, (c) sense of self, (d) attention, (e) attention, (f) cognition.

About Joseph Ciarrochi, Ph.D.

Professor Joseph Ciarrochi is among the top one percent most cited scientists in the world for his revolutionary work on the development and promotion of well-being. He focuses on psychological flexibility, or what he terms “flexible strength,” a cluster of skills that can be used to promote personal growth and build vitality and valued action. Examples of skills related to flexible strength are emotional intelligence, social intelligence, mindfulness, psychological flexibility, non-attachment, grit, equanimity, willpower and emotion regulation skill.

Professor Ciarrochi has given presentations and workshops all over the world on how best to promote well-being and peak performance. He is a research professor, and all talks are based on the best available science. He works with a wide variety of groups, including people in organizational settings, adolescents, teachers, leaders, and members of the public.

To be human is to experience worry, fear, anxiety, and stress. To be human is to play-it-safe.

What if being exposed to those unusual situations are part of your day-to-day life? How do you handle those internal reactions when encountering life-threatening situations?

Today, I share a special interview with Lance Morrison, former Captain Police Officer.

Key Takeaways

You will hear different micro-skills Lance uses to handle life-threatening situations such as:

• Focusing on one thing at a time.
• Compassion-based responses
• Focusing on what matters

About Lance Morrison

Lance is a California native. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, and he is a life-long vegetarian. He grew up playing the horns in a variety of NorCal bands, and he had to learn guitars, keyboards and the bass just to eat.

His work is a collection of tunes he wrote that focus on a cruelty-free lifestyle. Lance plays all of the instruments you hear on his album (no computers–just a nice multi-track recorder).

Lance also wound up in law enforcement and retired as a Captain from a municipal police department. Additionally, he taught college courses for twenty years. He has always used his humor and his music to balance against the stressful and challenging aspects of law enforcement. That career spanned 42 years!

• Have you ever felt anxious when driving?
• Have you ever had a panic attack?
• Have you ever felt an unexpected tingling sensation in your arm?
• Do you know how it feels when running a marathon?
• Have you ever pushed your body beyond your limits?

In all those scenarios it’s quite likely you’re going to experience some form of bodily-based sensation and naturally, your brain is going to “make sense of it” by either perceiving it as a threat or as an insignificant sensation.

If your brain perceives those sensations as a threat, it will naturally push you to play-it-safe.

In this conversation with Dr. Diana Hill, you will learn specific skills to handle those uncomfortable bodily sensations, slow down and fundamentally choose your response.

About Diana Hill, Ph.D.

Diana Hill, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist who specializes in evidence-based and compassion-focused approaches to build a values-rich life. She integrates the science of ACT and contemplative practices through her cutting-edge podcasts including Your Life in Process, her online course Foundations of ACT, and her co-authored book “ACT Daily Journal: Get unstuck and live fully with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy“.

Diana has a knack for unpacking complex, science-based concepts and making them applicable to daily life. She has interviewed leaders in the field of psychology, mindfulness, and wellness. Diana earned a biopsychology undergraduate degree from UC Santa Barbara and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at CU Boulder where she researched mindfulness and acceptance-based approaches for eating disorders.

In today’s episode of the Playing-It-Safe podcast, Dr. Z. and Lou Lasprugrato, MFT, discuss the various Acceptance and Commitment Skills (ACT) and how they apply to our day-to-day life.

ACT skills are applicable not just for therapy or coaching but as a way of living life. At the end of the day, real change happens by taking action, one action after another.

Key Takeaways

What we discussed with Lou Lasprugato:

• How playing-it-safe moves are part of our day-to-day life
• What is perspective-taking or self-as-context within the ACT model
• 4 ways to think about self-as-context
• How to make values-based choices on-the-go
• How the 6 ACT processes are intertwined  
• What’s aversive and what’s appetitive when looking at your actions

About Lou Lasprugato, M.F.T.

Lou Lasprugato is a psychotherapist in California and Virginia, a Peer-Reviewed Trainer in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and a teacher of mindfulness meditation. Lou has facilitated workshops internationally on ACT. He earned his Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology, with a specialization in Holistic Studies from Lesley University, Cambridge, MA, following a career as a professional musician.