CBT Mindfulness & Acceptance Approaches 2 â Questions and Answers
Question 1: In Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), what does the term 'psychological flexibility' primarily refer to?
- The ability to change one's core beliefs rapidly
- The capacity to contact the present moment fully and change or persist in behavior that serves valued ends (Correct answer)
- The skill of suppressing unwanted emotions effectively
- The technique of replacing negative thoughts with positive ones
Correct answer: The capacity to contact the present moment fully and change or persist in behavior that serves valued ends
Psychological flexibility in ACT refers to the ability to contact the present moment fully and to change or persist in behavior when doing so serves one's values.
Question 2: Which mindfulness practice involves intentionally observing thoughts without judgment, allowing them to pass like clouds in the sky?
- Thought suppression
- Cognitive restructuring
- Defusion (Correct answer)
- Behavioral activation
Correct answer: Defusion
Defusion (cognitive defusion) is the ACT technique of observing thoughts as passing mental events rather than literal truths, often using metaphors like clouds or leaves on a stream.
Question 3: A CBT client says 'I shouldn't be feeling anxiousâit means something is wrong with me.' A mindfulness-informed therapist would MOST appropriately respond by:
- Challenging whether anxiety is truly harmful
- Encouraging the client to distract themselves from anxious feelings
- Helping the client observe the anxiety with curiosity and non-judgment (Correct answer)
- Prescribing relaxation techniques to eliminate the anxiety
Correct answer: Helping the client observe the anxiety with curiosity and non-judgment
Mindfulness-informed therapy teaches clients to observe emotional experiences with curiosity and non-judgment rather than evaluating or suppressing them.
Question 4: The 'raisin exercise' used in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is designed to cultivate which quality?
- Gratitude for simple pleasures
- Beginner's mind and present-moment sensory awareness (Correct answer)
- Acceptance of chronic pain
- Non-attachment to food preferences
Correct answer: Beginner's mind and present-moment sensory awareness
The raisin exercise cultivates 'beginner's mind' by having participants explore a raisin with all senses as if encountering it for the first time, building present-moment awareness.
Question 5: Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) describes 'Wise Mind' as:
- The logical, rational state free from emotional influence
- The integration of emotional mind and rational mind (Correct answer)
- A meditative trance state achieved through prolonged practice
- The perspective of a wise mentor or therapist
Correct answer: The integration of emotional mind and rational mind
Wise Mind in DBT is the integration of Emotional Mind and Reasonable Mind, representing intuitive wisdom that balances emotion and reason.
Question 6: In mindfulness-based interventions, 'secondary suffering' refers to:
- Physical pain that develops from emotional distress
- The additional suffering created by resisting or judging primary experience (Correct answer)
- Trauma symptoms experienced by therapy providers
- Suffering that occurs after the primary problem is resolved
Correct answer: The additional suffering created by resisting or judging primary experience
Secondary suffering is the additional pain created when we resist, judge, or struggle against our primary experience, often expressed as 'pain about pain.'
Question 7: Which statement BEST describes the role of values in ACT therapy?
- Values are long-term goals that clients should achieve to reduce distress
- Values are chosen directions that give meaning to committed action regardless of emotional state (Correct answer)
- Values are beliefs that must be challenged and modified in therapy
- Values are established during childhood and remain fixed throughout life
Correct answer: Values are chosen directions that give meaning to committed action regardless of emotional state
In ACT, values are chosen life directionsâlike a compass headingâthat guide committed action and give meaning independent of achieving specific outcomes or feeling a certain way.
CBT Mindfulness & Acceptance Approaches 2
In Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), what does the term 'psychological flexibility' primarily refer to?