ACT in Weight Reduction
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I am a student doing research for a project. From what I have read so far, it is my understanding that most successful uses of ACT require a good bit of time journaling or meditating on thoughts and feelings associated with the behavior one wants to modify.
I'm trying to find out if there have been any successes using ACT in short daily time frames (5 to 15 minutes). We're looking at using an ACT based program on individuals that are having difficulties in weight loss programs. Devoting 45 minutes to an hour a day meditating or journaling seems to be a deterant for most individuals.
I appreciate any responses and look forward to getting more information on the subject.
Thank you,
Laura Powell
Weight
You might also try Evan Foreman at Drexel. He has a nice pilot study on
ACT with urges to eat specific foods etc
You can get results in brief approaches. Jason Lillis's was a 6 hour protocol
and after 3 months (with the first half of the subjects) it was looking pretty good
- S
Steven C. Hayes, University of Nevada
weight reduction
Hi Laura,
I few things spring to mind. I think you are right that the length of time engaged in exercises or diary keeping can be off putting for may people in behavioural/cognitive-behavioural therapy. For me, mindfullness meditation is not necessarily about sitting down in a room and forcing ones self to be mindful at a specific time (although many do find this useful). Mindfulness can be practiced in short bursts at many times of the day, from having a shower, making a cup of coffee, walking to work, sitting in trafic. It might be possible to help clients notice the thoughts and feelings that come with their every day activity as opposed to getting them into the full sitting under Bodhi tree experience. Thich Nhat Hanh's book the Miracle of Mindfulness deals with this and is pretty much ACT consistent. Helping clients notice their reactions to every day contexts and situations might be good training to help them notice their thoughts and feelings arround over eating for example. If you can reduce the time at home spent in mindfullness meditation, you might free up more time for what ever diary keeping is essential for the intervention you are planning.
Also Eifert, McKay and Forsyths book ACT on Life not on Anger has a section on mindfulness which has 5 brief exercies that the authors say can be condensed into a 10 minute daily practice (p110-114)
Look through the publication?
It's tough sometimes to get responses in the public forums - I have the impression they don't get much traffic from the professional members of ACBS, who maybe have other means of communication, e.g. the private ACT and RFT newsgroups.
Hopefully you have found other ways to get the information you're looking for. Just in case I will mention the Publications section of this site - there are studies on using ACT for things like smoking cessation; there are also a lot of studies in which ACT was taught in a group setting. You might get some contacts from these studies, too.
I will add that in my own experience as a layperson who has benefited from ACT, journaling or meditating for 45 min a day isn't a requirement, provided that the groundwork has been laid for self practice through the help of a therapist/instructor, or even by reading the ACT workbook for laypeople if no instructor is available. Also, as you have probably found out by now, formal meditation is only one of many techniques - there are many others, some quite brief, that can be used throughout the day as needed. Even with formal meditation, as little as 10 minutes a day can be very helpful. What probably matters more than spending X minutes per day is practicing the skills in the appropriate context, e.g. when urges or distressing thoughts arise.
ACT in weight management
Hi,
Great question! In the reading I've done on mindfulness, the amoount of time is less important than daily practice. Try searching for articles on Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) or Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) for more specifics. I would also recommend reading Jean Kristeller's work on mindful eating if you haven't already.
As for ACT specific protocols, Jason Lillis (student rep) might know more about ACT for obesity in particular. Check the links in the publication section for ACT and health applications. You'll see some general information on studies of ACT for obesity management.
Lastly, just because someone hasn't done it, doesn't mean it won't work! If you try it out, let us know how it goes (if you can collect some data, even better!).
Good luck.
Mary