«Mental control» from a third-wave behavior therapy perspective
Autor/es
Barraca, J.Fecha
2012Tipo de documento
articleÁrea/s de conocimiento
PsicologíaMateria/s Unesco
61 PsicologíaResumen
Most third-wave behavior therapies and, more specifically, Behavioral
Activation (BA), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Mindfulness-Based
Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and Dialectic Behavior Therapy (DBT), have proposed
alternatives for intervention for intrusive thoughts, painful memories, unpleasant daydreams
or ruminative depressive discourses. While traditional behavior therapy seeks to eliminate
such thoughts (or at least reduce their duration, frequency and intensity), or otherwise
question their credibility and then replace them with other more positive or adapted
thoughts, in the new forms of behavior therapy, direct intervention for them is
discarded, and therefore, techniques such as distraction or thought replacement, thought
stopping or cognitive restructuring are no longer considered advisable. In this paper,
we review the body of scientific evidence on the usefulness of acceptance and mindfulness
based interventions. Although the results are promising, it is true that more data is
necessary to demonstrate that these techniques are always recommended over the
traditional therapies.