1. Fooling around with Definitions of Psychological Flexibility
Chad E. Drake, Ph.D.

2. experiential avoidance
psychological flexibility

3. Experiential Avoidance
The intent to alter or avoid the form, frequency, or intensity of private experiences such as thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations or memories, even when doing so is costly, ineffective, or unnecessary.

4. psychological inflexibility dominance of the conceputalized past
and feared future;
weak self-knowledge
lack of values
clarity; dominance
of pliance and
avoidant tracking
experiential
avoidance
psychological
inflexibility
cognitive
fusion
inaction, impulsivity,
avoidant persistence
attachment to the
conceptualized self

5. psychological flexibility contact with the present moment acceptance
values
psychological
flexibility
defusion
committed action
self-as-context

6. Hayes et al., 2004
From page 5 of “A Practical Guide to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy”:
“…the ability to contact the present moment more fully as a conscious human being, and to either change or persist when doing so serves valued ends.”

7. Luoma, Hayes, & Walser, 2007 From page 17 of “Learning ACT”
“…the ability to contact the present moment more fully as a conscious human being, and based on what the situation affords, to change or persist in behavior in order to serve valued ends.”

8. Hayes et al., 2007 From page 57 of “Understanding Behavior Disorders”:
“…the ability to experience events fully, consciously, and without defense, and to persist in or change behavior in a given situation in the service of chosen values.”

9. Let’s Behave

10. Inflexible Example
I want this… but I don’t like this… so I do this… which leads to this.
control
relief
anxiety
be alone
values
loneliness
Antecedent conditions
Behavior
Consequences

11. Flexible Example
I want this… but I don’t like this… so I do this… which leads to this.
willingness
vitality
anxiety
socialize
while
anxious
values
people
Antecedent conditions
Behavior
Consequences

12. Psychological flexibility is any behavior where the motivational functions of some personal value dominate over non-valued motives as well as direct or indirect aversive stimulation that would normally elicit or occasion escape and/or avoidance

13. Psychological flexibility is also a sensitivity to stimulation that assists one in learning how to pursue one’s value and an insensitivity to stimulation that would normally serve to promote escape, avoidance, and experiential avoidance

14. Jerold Hambright
“When a person can observe himself in a context while taking action for a purpose, then the person learns what works and does not work for his values.”

15. Questions to Ponder
Is aversive stimulation necessary to reveal psychological flexibility?
Is it psychologically flexibile to engage in valued action in the absence of obstacles, distress, or suffering?
Is it psychological flexibility to pursue transcendence, even in respect to values?
Is values-consistent behavior necessary for psychological flexibility?