22.2 Steven Hayes, PhD: RFT, ACT, Evolution, The FLIP, and Mental Health

Please join us this week for a discussion on Relational Frame Theory (RFT) and how it relates to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy/Training (ACT), with the conceptual creator of RFT and ACT, Dr. Steven Hayes.  I highly recommend you view this on YouTube so you don't miss out on all the added video graphics that supplement our discussion.  Dr. Hayes found himself at a crossroads during his early career as an academic psychologist due to his struggle with panic disorder, and like so many difficult things in life, it became critically important to the remainder of his professional development in the field of psychology.  He used a background in neurolinguistics and psychology to generate some fundamental ideas about human cognition and summarized them in his theory, RFT, which centers on the unique human ability to NOT just learn through direct experience, but also learn through derived experience or information, which we'll discuss further in our conversation.  Once he had strengthened the proof for his theory through reproducible experimentation, he converted THAT understanding into the framework for ACT, and has been spreading this message of openness, flexibility, love, acceptance, and values-based living ever since!  In Part 2 of our conversation, Steve gives us an alternative conceptualization of 'mental illness' through the lens of RFT and ACT, and as a comprehensive bio-psycho-social phenomenon.  We discuss problems with psychiatric rating scales and the importance of understanding and managing problems in individuals' lives as opposed to searching for a medication 'cure' for a solely biological disease.  We talk about the importance of an evolutionary understanding of the world to better understand mental health problems and effective approaches to patients, as well as the advantage to assuming a paw-print in the sand outside of the evolutionary cave is a predator as opposed to a prey.  Dr. Hayes tries to recreate the CLICK, or FLIP of understanding again through relation of 2 seemingly unrelated objects in an unrelated way.   I hope you enjoy, Dr. Hayes has had a HUGE influence on my life and I hope he has the same for our viewers and listeners! If you're passionate about what we do here at Renegade Psych, we're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support our work, you can! Or not... I'll continue putting out content as long as my other jobs pay the bills.  Other things you can do: liking, commenting, and sharing our posts also go a long way! https://patreon.com/RenegadePsych. Thanks for listening to the audio podcast... You should check out our posted video podcast on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaZ1bds1MGMM4tSbY7ISqug) as there are graphics overlaying the video to make it all more interactive and educational.  For more social media content, check us out on all social media platforms @RenegadePsych. If you have any comments, questions or challenges to the information we've presented here, if you'd like to be a guest to the show, or if you have general comments, questions, or suggestions, email us at [email protected] and follow the link https://renegade-psych.podcastpage.io/  to our website for source material, transcripts, and additional links for my guests. If you feel passionate about our message and what we're trying to do, and you'd like to donate, you can also follow the link in the show notes to our website. Disclaimer, this podcast is for informational purposes only. The information provided in this podcast and related materials are meant only to educate.  This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. While I am a medical doctor and many of my guests have extensive medical training and experience, nothing stated in this podcast nor materials related to this podcast, including recommended websites, texts, graphics, images, or any other materials should be treated as a substitute for professional medical or psychological advice, diagnosis or treatment. All listeners should consult with a medical professional, licensed mental health provider or other healthcare provider if seeking medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.