ABSTRACT
This chapter describes many cognitive behavioral approaches that incorporate a substantial focus on acceptance. It provides an overview of the approach that served as a model for the incorporation of acceptance and mindfulness into contemporary mental health treatments—Jon Kabat-Zinn's mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). An innovative acceptance incorporated into dialectical behavior therapy's (DBT's) distress tolerance module is that of radical acceptance, or the acceptance of less-than-optimal circumstances with one's whole heart, body, and mind. Like MBSR, Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is designed as an 8-week group intervention for people who have chronic depression, defined as having three or more separate instances in their lives when they met criteria for major depressive disorder. Acceptance processes are those that help clients to overcome avoidance tendencies, whether they are avoiding certain stimuli or places, thoughts or memories, or even emotional experiences themselves. Acceptance-based behavior therapy (ABBT) aims to help clients overcome experiential avoidance and to engage in valued activities and improve quality of life.
