ACT Dropping Anchor
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ย. 2024
- Dropping Anchor (a Russ Harris tool from ACT) is a practice that is useful for overwhelming and strong emotions. It is made of 3 stages 1) Acknowledge thoughts and feelings 2) Connect with your body 3) Engage with your senses, the world around you and what you are doing in this moment
This video is from the Mob Group mob.group/ morning mindset sessions that I have been leading. If you would like to join these sessions contact Mob Group or www.themindfulnesscircle.com for more info.
Hi Jonny, I have been finding your videos and approach very helpful in building my acceptance practice for OCD. I was wondering if you have any feedback on this question - when I am doing a mindfulness practice like this and I notice my mind wandering or worrying or ruminating, as soon as I notice it the thought or feeling often "disappears" (a kind of dissociation?). So rather than really allowing it to remain and disengaging my attention, it often just "disappears" or my mind pushes it away automatically, so I'm not really getting to practice the skill of disengaging and redirecting my attention. When this happens I get really frustrated that the thought just "disappeared", and then I get frustrated that I'm frustrated, etc...
I was wondering if you have any technique or tips for kind of automatic thought suppression that happens when one notices the thoughts? Thank you again for your work!
Hi Julia, I’m glad you’ve found it helpful. I would say the simple answer is just notice what happens to the obsessions without further analysis, also keep letting go of the compulsions where you can without expectation. If the mind goes still, just notice that. It’s the same observing skill to notice a quiet or blank mind as it is a busy mind. It will still help you when you are more triggered and the obsessions are more obvious.
It’s important to be gentle and apply just enough effort to notice the intrusive thoughts and let go of any obvious cognitive process you are controlling/initiating. They could be mental compulsions, suppression or threat monitoring. If in doubt gently observe the mind and it will become more clear if you are suppressing or doing subtle compulsions. Just like riding a bike we learn by getting on the bike and wobbling around, sometimes we overshoot and then correct. The more gentle we are the more we can see if we are suppressing or overshooting at all.
Also lookout for any ‘secondary spikes’ where we analyse the technique and defuse those as well. Let go of any mental compulsions they activate also.
It sounds like you are doing great, keep practicing with lots of self compassion and it will get clearer as your observing skill gets fine grained. Remember that it’s all in service of being more engaged with people and actions we value, so also assess how you are doing by how connected you can be with those parts of life, whether obsessions are there or not…
@@jonnysaytherapy Thank you so much for your thoughtful response! I like the approach of being gentle - I think I have a tendency to overdo it and try to be controlling with the process.
Hi Jonny, I really struggle with thumb twitching lately and the hyper vigilance of my thumb is more debilitating than the actually twitching some days. Would anything change in dropping anchor steps wise?
You might want to check out the video on 'dipping in and out of the stream for threat monitoring' this gives ideas on this, also the ACT skills for chronic pain video (substitute hyperawareness of thumb for pain)...
@@jonnysaytherapy thanks Jonny! It was for sure helpful. Also being “okay” with the compulsions in the dip in portion was really helpful and soften the self judgement. I always appreciate your work!
@@chrisflores9030 I think dipping in and out of the stream really helps to identify the mental compulsions we can let go of and the intrusive thoughts and automatic/habituals compulsions that we can defuse and accept. Well done working hard on your recovery...