# Online Support Group



## daniel11206 (Jul 1, 2009)

Hey was thinking maybe we can get a support group going on online, maybe a in tinychat room where people have the option to have open discussions, whichever way u feel comfortable. No pressure, you can type, talk on mic whichever you feel comfortable with

Ideas 
I was thinking of working thru an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Book together( one chapter a week). The book that'll be used is called "The Happiness Trap".

Now even though the book isn't specifically targeted for anxiety, I've done ACT for a while and i found that it's almost the exact same thing. The reason I think we should use this book is that it has the most understanding explanation of what ACT is and does a great job on teaching how to do it compared to other books.

Act is an alternative therapy to Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) ,that has shown effective results for the treatment of Anxiety in studies.
The reason is that people respond differently to different therapies and this can be an alternative approach to those who have CBT and didn't respond to it. ACT can be a much more gentler and flexible approach to the treatment of Anxiety to some people.

Now I will try my best to explain a little bit of what ACT is:
People can have misconceptions or be turned off by the word Acceptance. You may think " Accept no way why would I want to accept my anxiety (or any many problems i have)", "I want to get rid of them", or " If i accept it, it's like giving up". I can understand this if you had any of this thoughts or similar because i too had similar thoughts when i first learned about ACT and unfortunately it kept me away from this helpful therapy for another couple of months until I actually tried it.

But its not like that at all:
ACT is about working towards acceptance but not in the way where you give up. Rather its working towards acceptance so that your problems don't get in the way of living the life you want. 
Now to try to make Acceptance much more clearer by explaining different ways/ concepts ACT has on working on acceptance. Defusion, and Expanison

Defusion 
ACT contains techniques that help you accept your thoughts, again not accepting them in the way where you give in to them. You'll see in a moment.
Defusion is used to give yourself room between you and your thoughts so that they don't get in your way.
An example could be when you use a defusion technique known as silly voices. In the silly voices technique you take a thought that's bothering you and repeat it to yourself in your mind in a different voice. It could be the voice of your favorite comedian, in a arnold Schwarzenegger voice or any other voice that'll help you accept it. I invite you to try this out now. 
If you went and tried it you may have notice that your thought didn't have the same sting to it. In ACT techniques like this are used to help us better accept our thoughts rather than a way to control our thoughts or to try to get rid of them and end up fighting against them which ends up in a struggle in our head. Defusion techniques in ACT are used to accept our thoughts and allow us to look more closely at thoughts and realize what they really are. It allows us to look more closely at them and see the thoughts for what they truly are: just words. They are nothing more than just words.
Expansion
Expansion is another acceptance technique in ACT. Expansion is an acceptance technique used on feelings that can get in your way. Again just like defusion and thoughts expansion works towards the same thing with feelings. To be able to look/come in contact with your emotions more closely and realize what they truly are. 
Now I tried my best to explain a little bit of what ACT, there is much more to ACT than just this, like living by your Values , Mindfulness and much more. 
In the end I hope you give ACT a chance because u have nothing to lose and the best way to understand what ACT is, is to experience it yourself.

To learn more about ACT you check out these links
http://socialanxietydisorder.about.com/od/therapyforsad/a/acttherapy.htm
http://socialanxietydisorder.about.com/od/therapyforsad/a/actprinciples.htm
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/two-takes-depression/201102/acceptance-and-commitment-therapy
http://www.actmindfully.com.au/acceptance_&_commitment_therapy



I hope we can get a group going that is about ACT, and also a support group at the same time where we can have open discussions about our anxiety.

Also others can bring their ideas to the table.


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