• Get Out of Your Mind & Into Your Life

  • The New Acceptance & Commitment Therapy
  • By: Spencer Smith, Steven C. Hayes
  • Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
  • Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (449 ratings)

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Get Out of Your Mind & Into Your Life

By: Spencer Smith,Steven C. Hayes
Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
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Publisher's summary

Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life introduces Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), a new approach to psychotherapy that reevaluates our most basic assumptions about mental health, and details how ACT can help you to embrace life and everything it has to offer.

©2005 Steven C. Hayes and Spencer Smith (P)2011 Tantor

Critic reviews

"If you're tired of standard psychological parlance and still frustrated with your quality of life, this book can be a godsend." (Martha Beck, columnist for O Magazine)
"Trying to 'change' negative thoughts through cognitive gymnastics is like trying to win a war single-handedly. Why waste a life trying the impossible? In Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life: The New Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, advocate Dr. Steven Hayes escorts the mildly depressed, angry, and anxiety prone through a new approach to handling suffering - universal human suffering caused by language's illusions. Rather than fighting off bad thoughts and feelings with internal pep talks, Hayes beautifully explains how to embrace those pessimistic and foreboding mental voices (much like welcoming home one's cranky, play-worn children), 'defuse' them with respectful attention, and commit to leading a purposeful life that includes their occasional ranting." (Amazon.com review)

What listeners say about Get Out of Your Mind & Into Your Life

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Mindfulness Psychology - But Get The Book

Would you listen to Get Out of Your Mind & Into Your Life again? Why?

There are many insights to gain from this book from a mindfulness standpoint. I have read many books on meditation and mindfulness but nothing that has put so much into easy use to help mindfulness yourself from your thoughts.Why Buy The Book? - See Narrator Comments.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Paul Boehmer?

The narrator has very pleasant voice - but there is no emotion, the pace is so constant with little inflection that it is very robotic. The Narration is so robotic it really could have been a robo-voice, but if you ever listened to Text-To-Speech from TextAloud, it is more natural than the narrator. I returned the book because I could not listen to the mind numbing pace, even at 1.10 speed it was faster, but the pace is the same. You need someone with a PASSION for this work to read the book.

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39 people found this helpful

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Details, details, details

I have the print copy as well as the audible copy. There is very helpful information here, but for those with the audible copy, there are some major mistakes to be aware of. For instance, in the print version, Chapter 4 "Letting Go", page 47, the statement, "...than did breathing retraining", is misread by the narrator in the audible version as, "...than did breathing restraining". This is one example of many. I would suggest to whoever is responsible for quality control, a thorough review of the audible version against the print version be done.

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28 people found this helpful

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Good guide to ACT, not the best narrator.

I am a therapist who has been looking for a book on ACT to recommend to clients. Overall I think it has a lot to offer, but the narrator was so robotic and monotone that it took away from the content. I much prefer when these types of books are read by the author.

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Best self-help book for anxiety I have found

I have problem with anxiety (generalized and social) and about year ago I started reading and listening books about this topic. This book was second one I picked and turn out to be the best.

I listened it several times and each time I find something new. ACT therapy is not easy so if someone seriously struggle maybe it is better to look for therapist to help work with material and provide guidance. I also tried some book related to CBT but I am somehow not able to apply CBT techniques to my life.

I also read or listen to: Worry Cure, Happiness Trap, Rewire Your Anxious Brain, The Solution to Social Anxiety, Worry Trick, Anxiety and Worry Workbook. Each of them has something valuable but this is one I return to because its advices seem to be most effective for me. I also recommend Solution to Social Anxiety by Aziz Gazipura but many of advices and techniques are also included in this book.

This book can be applied to many psychological problem so I recommend give it a try (if you have some patience). Also check Steven C. Hayes Ted talks - they are great.

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18 people found this helpful

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I am a clinical social worker / therapist. A/A+

I love the way it's written. The author practices like he preaches. The book is written in a methodical and intriguing fashion yet, with an incredibly high possibility for reader comprehension.. Can't wait to become "willing with mine and my clients" anxiety. " really cool book!

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A great book for anyone with a word machine

This is very interesting and will probably help millions of people. As a therapist I find this book very usefull, for myself and my clients. A great supplement to traditional cbt, with many good examples and explanations. ACT can be like a Matrix experience for some people. This book is serious written with humor in a caring way.

Love is not every thing, its the only thing. -Steven Hayes, 2016

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The Gub-Gub goes Whooooooo!

Amazing book a must read for anyone struggling with unhealthy thoughts! Full of very helpful strategies to stop avoiding fearful situations.. This book can help change your life

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Outstanding!

I would highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone. It was surprising and refreshing to see a clinical approach to spiritual traditions. The book is very well written and uses great illustrations and analogies to help deepen the understanding. It really resonated with me and has already helped me make dramatic helpful changes in my life (with practice - not just by reading it). Read this book and practice the well designed exercises. I'm going to read it again and again!

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You need ACT just to get through this book

I got through 3 chapters and most of it was repetitive. The first chapter was 1 hour long and I had a hard time with that. However, I figured he’s laying out expectations and the format and he will get to explanations of ACT etc in the next chapters.
Not really. They were equally long and uninformative. I felt there was no forward progress. He kept saying we will explain this later or we will eventually get to that in a later chapter.
The narrator also had a monotone dry voice that did not help to enliven the material.
There was one useful exercise in the first chapter - writing the things that you feel are causing you pain and suffering, how long, and ranking them. Just writing that down gives you some perspective and surprise as to how long an issue has not been dealt with. You think “wow, that’s bothered me for that many years?! I better work on that first.”
I think one can take that and use it with a therapist to begin working on.

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  • 11-24-17

Buy the physical book

It is way too difficult to follow the practices via audio book. Many things require time and space, which means constantly pausing the audio; and repeated practices are also required.
This is challenging with audio book format. With a physical book one could mark the pages and return when the book challenges; "return to ... if this initial step is a challenge."

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9 people found this helpful