Compare and contrast the third- and second-generation behavioral therapies.

What will be an ideal response?


Ans: Third-generation behavior therapies are viewed as controversial in that they veer from the primary goal of first- or second-generation approaches that seek to eliminate or reduce clients’ problematic behaviors and psychological distress. In contrast, the “goal in third-generation therapies is for clients to actively accept various forms of psychological discomfort or pain … as inevitable instead of viewing them as obstacles to achieving their goals” (Spiegler & Guevremont, 2010, p. 384). Third-generation therapies include acceptance and mindfulness based strategies that encompass an expanded view of psychological health grounded in assumptions that pain, suffering and discomfort are inevitable and cannot be completely eliminated, but instead can be accepted, and cognitively defused (i.e., letting go of the idea that one’s thoughts accurately encompass all of one’s experience, “I am not my thoughts”) so as not to interfere with life goals.

Social Work & Human Services

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