About the lecture

In this lecture, we think about the third wave of cognitive and behavioural psychotherapies, focusing in particular on: (i) the focus of second wave therapies on changing the content of negative thoughts, compared to the focus of third wave therapies on changing the relationship with those thoughts; (ii) the goal of a third wave therapy to ensure that negative thoughts have less of an impact on the individual, rather than necessarily going away entirely; (iii) mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), developed by Segal, Teasdale and Williams; (iv) acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and its focus on personal values; (v) an evaluation of ACT research which considers that, despite it abundance, the nature of it being thinly spread across a range of treatment conditions limits the potential impact of its results.

About the lecturer

Dr Helen Bolderston is a senior lecturer in psychology in the Department of Psychology at Bournemouth University. Dr Bolderston’s research interests lie in acceptance-based psychotherapies, processes implicated in the development and maintenance of mental health problems, and psychological wellbeing and burnout in health and social care students and professionals. Some of Dr Bolderston’s recent publications include 'Cognitive fusion as a candidate psychological vulnerability factor for psychosis: An experimental study of acute 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) intoxication' (2021) and 'Resilience and surgeons: train the individual or change the system?' (2020).