CFT Made Simple , livre ebook

“This book is not just simple. It is elegant and powerful. Through engaging didactics and detailed clinical examples, Russell Kolts demonstrates how we can bring compassion to clients’ lives by applying innovative and precise techniques of compassion-focused therapy (CFT). You will learn to use perspective-taking shifts and imagery techniques formally and through natural conversations. You will learn to help clients understand and overcome their struggles using evolution and contextual sciences. Be kind to yourself and to your clients: read CFT Made Simple .”
—Matthieu Villatte, PhD , coauthor of Mastering the Clinical Conversation
“An excellent book. Well written, easy to read, insightful, and inspiring. And bursting with practical ideas that will be useful for any health professional with an interest in compassion and mindfulness. A valuable contribution to the field of health and well-being.”
—Russ Harris , author of The Happiness Trap and ACT Made Simple
“A clinician’s ability to be compassionate, to help clients face their pain with kindness and courage, is at the core of all effective therapies. Bringing together evolutionary psychology, affective neuroscience, attachment theory, behaviorism, and mindfulness approaches, Russell Kolts provides a compendium filled with heartfelt wisdom, step-by-step guidelines, and exercises that therapists of any orientation can use immediately to help their clients reclaim warmth, affiliation, safeness, and hope in their lives. This indispensable volume is a must-have in any clinician’s library.”
—Robert Kohlenberg, PhD, ABPP , and Mavis Tsai, PhD , codevelopers of functional analytic psychotherapy (FAP)
“CFT is a revolutionary new approach to therapy firmly rooted in ancient wisdom and modern science. The author has an uncanny ability to present this multidimensional model in a practical, straightforward manner without losing any of its subtlety. This book is a wonderful resource for clinicians who wish to dive deeply into CFT, or who simply want to integrate key aspects of the approach into their existing practices. Drawing directly on our innate capacity for compassion, CFT offers compelling insights for therapy and how we may live our daily lives more fully. Highly recommended!”
—Christopher Germer, PhD , author of The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion , and coeditor of Mindfulness and Psychotherapy
“This is a phenomenal book that manages to convey the complex theory underlying CFT into extremely simple ideas and practices that translate directly into clinical practice. This book will be an essential tool for any therapist wanting to effectively incorporate compassion into their work with clients.”
—Kristin Neff, PhD , associate professor in the department of educational psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, and author of Self-Compassion



Publisher’s Note
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering psychological, financial, legal, or other professional services. If expert assistance or counseling is needed, the services of a competent professional should be sought.
“On Pain” from THE PROPHET by Kahlil Gibran, copyright © 1923 by Kahlil Gibran and renewed 1951 by Administrators C.T.A. of Kahlil Gibran Estate and Mary G. Gibran. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
The table in the section “Compassionate Thinking and Reasoning” in chapter 10 is adapted from Kolts, THE COMPASSIONATE MIND GUIDE TO MANAGING YOUR ANGER (2012), with permission from Little, Brown Book Group.
Distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books
Copyright © 2016 by Russell L. Kolts
New Harbinger Publications, Inc.5674 Shattuck AvenueOakland, CA 94609 www.newharbinger.com
Cover design by Sara Christian; Acquired by Melissa Kirk; Edited by Gretel Hakanson; Indexed by James Minkin
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data on file


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For my dear friend, colleague, and mentor Paul Gilbert. Paul, your brilliant work, inspiration, nurturance, and tutelage have made this book possible, and have given me a professional life that is more meaningful and rewarding than I had ever dared to dream.
Contents
Foreword
—Paul Gilbert, PhD, FBPsS, OBE
Introduction
Compassion-Focused Therapy
What Is CFT and How Is It Useful?
The CFT Approach
The Evidence Base for CFT
Evidence for CFT Interventions
The Science Underlying the CFT Model
The Practice of CFT
Layered Processes and Practices
What If My Client Doesn’t Believe in Evolution?
CFT and Other Therapies
Our Current Approach
Chapter 1: Origins and Basic Themes
The Origins of CFT
CFT: Core Ideas
Shame and Self-Criticism Can Be Crippling
Compassion: The Strength to Move Toward the Pain
Building Blocks of Compassion: Shifting from Judgment to Understanding
The Challenges of Our Evolved Brains
The Social Shaping of the Self
The Importance of Learning to Feel Safe
Summary
Chapter 2: Introducing Compassion
Compassionate Attributes
Sensitivity
Sympathy
Compassionate Motivation
Distress Tolerance
Nonjudgment
Empathy
Compassionate Mind Training
Compassionate Thinking and Reasoning
Attention and Sensory Focusing
Imagery
Feeling and Emotion
Behavior
Summary
Chapter 3: Compassionate Relating: Roles of the Therapist in CFT
Different Roles for Different Tasks
Teacher of the CFT Model
Relating the Model to the Client’s Lived Experience
Providing Supplementary Materials
Facilitator of Guided Discovery
Socratic Dialogue
Experiential Exercises
Exploring Interpersonal Dynamics
Working Collaboratively with Obstacles
Secure Base
Models of the Compassionate Self
Putting the Roles into Play
Therapist Use of Self-Disclosure
Summary
Chapter 4: Compassionate Understanding: How Evolution Has Shaped Our Brains
Old Brains and New Brains
The Old Brain: Powerful, But Not Very Wise
Emotional Inertia
Soothing Rhythm Breathing
Summary
Chapter 5: Compassionate Understanding: Three Types of Emotion
The Three-Circles Model of Emotion
The Threat System
The Drive System
The Safeness System
Organizing Our Experience
What About Sadness?
Motives and Social Mentalities
Summary
Chapter 6: Compassionate Understanding: The Social Shaping of the Self
Different Versions of the Self
The Social Shaping of the Self
Attachment History and Attachment Style
Learning Theory and Behavior Therapy
Operant Conditioning and Functional Analysis of Behavior
Respondent Conditioning
Relational Frame Theory
Social Learning
Working with Fears of Compassion
Summary
Chapter 7: Compassionate Awareness: Cultivating Mindfulness
Mindfulness
Preparing Clients to Work with Attention
Mindful Checking-In
Mindful Breathing
Teaching Mindful Breathing
Other Mindfulness Practices
Working with Obstacles in Mindfulness Training
Forgetting
Avoidance and Low Motivation
Feeling Like a Failure
Summary
Chapter 8: Committing to Compassion: Working with Self-Criticism
Socratic Dialogue
Two Teachers Vignette
Summary
Chapter 9: Cultivating the Compassionate Self
The Compassionate Self
A Method-Acting Approach
The Compassionate Self Practice
Extending Compassion to the Vulnerable Self
The Compassionate Self in Action
Compassionate Letter-Writing
Instructions for Compassionate Letter-Writing
Summary
Chapter 10: Compassionate Thinking and Reasoning
Working with Threat-Focused Thoughts
Compassionate Thinking and Reasoning
Mentalizing
Linking Thought Work to Compassionate Understanding
Summary
Chapter 11: Using Compassionate Imagery
An Orientation to Imagery
Creating a Safe Place
The Ideal Compassionate Image Practice
Other Imagery Exercises
Compassion for Distress, Threat Feelings, and Pain
Compassion for the Self
Compassion for Others
Summary
Chapter 12: Embodying Compassion: Chair Work in CFT
Chair Work in CFT
Empty-Chair Work
Two-Chair Work
Facilitating Dialogue between the Compassionate and Vulnerable Selves
Facilitating Dialogue between the Compassionate, Vulnerable, and Self-Critical Selves
Summary
Chapter 13: Compassionate Integration: Case Formulation in CFT
Key Components of a CFT Case Formulation
Innate and Historical Influences
Key Fears
The Downward Arrow Method
Safety Strategies and Defensive Behaviors
Unintended Consequences
Relating to Self and Others
Summary
Chapter 14: Exploring Affect: The Multiple Selves Practice
Multiple Versions of the Self
Exploring the Selves
The Captain of the Ship
Debriefing the Exercise
Summary
Chapter 15: Riding the Third Wave: Integrating CFT into Your Therapy
What Does a CFT Therapist Look Like?
CFT and Other Models
Bringing CFT into Your Therapy Room
Consider the Roles You Are Inhabiting as the Therapist
Occasionally Bring in the Evolutionary Model
Use Socratic Dialogue to Undermine Self-Attacking
Use the Three Circles as a Facilitator for Mindfulness
Use the Three Circles in Considering Your Interactions with the Client
Use the Perspective of the Compassionate Self
The Compassionate Self as an Anchor-Point
The Compassionate Self in Exposure Therapy
Conclusion
Afterword: Unpacking the Compassionate Mind
—Steven C. Hayes
Acknowledgments
Appendix: Reproducible Forms
References
About the author
Index
Foreword
In this beautifully and skillfully written book, Russell Kolts uses his experience to outline the key themes in compassion-focused therapy (CFT). It’s very easy to think that compassion approaches to psychological therapies are just about helping people be kind to themselves and others. In reality, the center of compassion—particularly in the therapeutic arena