What I’m Reading
This is the best one-volume summary of ACT, RFT, and CBS that I know of. That said, it can be a little on the intimidating side if this is your first ACT book, so I’d start elsewhere for a basic introduction to ideas—either with a workbook or something by Russ Harris. But once you’re ready to dig in, this is essential reading.
In-depth history of psychiatric hubris, from the early days of mental institutions and anatomical research all the way up to the modern attempts to cast mental disorders as biomedical in origin. This book is not the polemic I expected (or wanted, frankly, although it does contain some recommendations in the afterword), but it’s still good reading to understand the fraught history of the psychiatry experiment.
McHugh/Stewart’s first big book on selfing processes. This is an edited volume, so it doesn’t hang together quite as nicely as their newer “A Contextual Behavioral Guide to the Self,” but it’s still useful and contains some nice work. I especially appreciated Kelly Wilson’s chapter on the ways mindfulness can help develop healthy self processes.
Burnout’s a hot topic these days (see also Anne Helen Petersen’s excellent piece on the subject), and the Nagoski sisters provide a critically important summary of how we’re being impacted and what we can do about it. While ostensibly targeted toward women, the patriarchy hurts us all and I recommend this book to everyone.
Most would agree self-as-context is the most challenging of the core ACT processes. If you want a deep dive into the process, I don’t think there’s a better volume out there. This is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand selfing repertoires, the types of problems that can occur when we engage in selfing behavior, and the ways in which the language we use can influence “who we are.”
2019’s book of the year for me. This book argues that our traditional understanding of evolution as a genetic process occurring at an individual level is too narrow—instead, Wilson places evolutionary processes into a multi-dimensional, multi-level framework that allows us to apply Darwin to everything from chicken farms to public policy. David Sloan Wilson is a friend of CBS, and this book even has a chapter explaining how evolution can help us be better ACT therapists too. Highest recommendation.
Good introduction to a wealth of information on modern race relations. Oluo deftly outlines the ways in which American institutional structures create and perpetuate systems of privilege, and explains how all of us can move more thoughtfully through these systems in order to increase equity and make change in the world.
Fascinating book, filled with lively anecdotes that provide a good historical understanding of genetic inheritance. I especially appreciated the chapters on the science of race and racism. See also my blog post on phenylketonuria.
RFT can be a tough set of concepts, but it’s really helpful to have at least a basic understanding if you’re doing ACT work. This is a very good book which provides background on RFT research as well as some basic examples of clinical application. If you’re looking for a true introduction to RFT, though, I’d start with Torneke’s “ABCs of Human Behavior” (with Jonas Ramnero.)
A beast of a book. If you want to know everything about RFT I don’t know of a better source, but this is probably overkill for nearly all clinicians. It should at least be the last thing you read after Torneke and Villatte (I made the mistake of making this my introduction to RFT and it was very hard to get through.)
