Mindfulness and Acceptance for Gender and Sexual Minorities: A Clinician’s Guide to Fostering Compassion, Connection, and Equality Using Contextual ... Mindfulness and Acceptance Practica Series)

338 Pages·2016·6.86 MB·English

by  Matthew D. Skinta PhD ABPP

“This empowering volume shows how to bring powerful, evidence-
based methods to gender and sexual minorities (GSM): do it through
the application of GSM- affirmative, scientific principles linked to
evidence- based procedures. Acceptance, mindfulness, compassion,
and values- based action open the door to a new and more progressive
conversation with the entire field about how to best meet the wide-
ranging needs of GSM populations. Comprehensive, powerful, and
clearly stated, this wonderful book helps show us all a new way
forward.”
— Steven C. Hayes, PhD, Foundation Professor at the University
of Nevada, and codeveloper of acceptance and commitment
therapy (ACT)
“Mindfulness and Acceptance for Gender and Sexual Minorities is an
important addition to the literature on mental health of GSM. Since
the 2000’s, we have seen growth in sophisticated epidemiological
research leading to better understanding of patterns and causes of
mental health of GSM. But guidance on treatment has lagged. We
have learned a lot about minority stress but less about how to help
people who experience it. This clinician’s guide comes to fill this gap
in our knowledge, updating the literature on treatment of GSM. The
writers, experienced therapists and researchers, apply research on
mindfulness- and acceptance- based therapies to treating minority
stressors related to stigma and prejudice experienced by GSM. The
chapters in this book bring insight to broad areas of concerns in the
lived experience of GSM, from coming out, to raising families, to cre-
ating salubrious environments.”
— Ilan H. Meyer, PhD, Williams Distinguished Senior Scholar of
Public Policy at The Williams Institute UCLA School of Law,
and coeditor of The Health of Sexual Minorities
“Skinta, Curtin, and the chapter authors respond to the need in the
field to articulate ways in which mindfulness- based approaches can
address many specific challenges faced by gender and sexual minority
(GSM) individuals. It is increasingly important to ensure that GSM
(and other minority) populations are able to access mental health
treatments that are both evidenced- based and follow culturally com-
petent, affirmative care. This book is a unique intellectually stimulat-
ing resource for clinicians to have in our tool box, both those who are
familiar with mindfulness- based approaches and desire information
about how to work with GSM, as well as those who work with this
population and require information about mindfulness- based
approaches to care.”
— Steven Safren, clinical psychologist and professor of psychology
at the University of Miami
“I finished this book feeling both humbled and at the same time
empowered in my work with GSM clients. It provides a very approach-
able overview of the theoretical foundations central to contextual
behavioral science, while at the same time being extremely practical
and directly applicable for clinicians, offering numerous clinical
examples and suggested exercises. This book is an essential read for
any clinician working with issues of sexuality, gender and gender iden-
tity, stigma, and shame from a functional contextual perspective.”
— Jenna LeJeune, PhD, licensed clinical psychologist, and
cofounder and director of clinical services at Portland
Psychotherapy Clinic, Research, and Training Center in
Portland, OR
“This volume includes the latest thinking and therapeutic interven-
tions in our field to help guide clinicians in their work with gender
and sexual minorities. Each of the chapters includes the nuts and
bolts involved in helping GSM clients. No stone is left unturned in the
array of chapters that include such topics as coming out, same- sex
parenting, shame, and being a minority in GSM communities. The
book is clearly aimed at detailing therapeutic interventions for clini-
cians, including compassion- , acceptance- , and mindfulness- based
treatments as both standalone as well as integrated with other
approaches such as acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), dia-
lectical behavior therapy (DBT), and functional analytic psychother-
apy (FAP). This volume includes specific suggestions as well as case
examples that clinicians can apply in their work. It even includes a
chapter to address the issues confronting straight therapists working
with GSM clients. Their goals are not only to help clinicians be effec-
tive with GSM clients, but also address implications for society. I
highly recommend this extremely interesting, timely, and well- written
and edited book.”
— Robert J. Kohlenberg, PhD, ABPP, professor in the department
of psychology at the Center for the Science of Social Connection
at the University of Washington
“Matthew Skinta and Aisling Curtin have edited the preeminent
book on GSM- affirmative treatment. Writing from their core per-
sonal and professional experiences, the chapter contributors inspire
readers to become not only more insightful and effective therapists,
but to strive for cultural humility and societal equality. This deeply
thoughtful and heart- stirring treasure trove will guide clinicians for
generations to come.”
— Mavis Tsai, PhD, coauthor of A Guide to Functional Analytic
Psychotherapy, and research scientist and clinical faculty at the
University of Washington
“Mindfulness and Acceptance for Gender and Sexual Minorities is an
important contribution to the next wave of therapies for GSM. As we
move beyond a focus on affirmative and non- pathologizing therapies,
it is crucial that we begin to adapt evidence- based therapies to meet
the needs of the diverse populations that we treat. Mindfulness and
acceptance are approaches are especially suited for GSM clients strug-
gling not only to accept themselves, but also to live effectively in a
changing, and at times, hostile culture. This book is essential for any
clinician treating GSM clients.”
— Jayme L. Peta, PhD, coauthor of The Gender Quest Workbook
“There is a kind of violence that occurs when we tell people, in bold
headlines and in small, quiet ways: do not express your difference, do
not wonder about who you are, certainly not out loud, but really not
even to yourself. Just be quiet and fit in. The palette of human sexual-
ity is broad, and that breadth is largely unknown because we have
suppressed the knowing of it, even among individuals who have a
sense of these differences from the inside out. We have a choice. We
can create a kinder, more curious, and more thoughtful context for
our clients to come to know themselves and to help us to know them.
This is an important book if you want to be part of that kinder
context.”
— Kelly G. Wilson, PhD, professor of psychology at the University
of Mississippi
“This is a groundbreaking book on several levels. The expert authors
bring the light of cutting- edge behavioral research to people and chal-
lenges that are often overlooked by mainstream clinical approaches.
Furthermore, the book places compassion front and center in the
development of new strategies. This is a must- read book.”
— Dennis Tirch PhD, coauthor of The ACT Practitioner’s Guide
to the Science of Compassion, and founder of The Center for
Compassion Focused Therapy
“The evolved human brain carries multiple possibilities for experienc-
ing and acting in the world. Our capacity for love coexists with our
capacity for hatred and cruelty; our capacity for joy lives with our
capacity for depression; we are multidimensional beings. Such rich-
ness of our potential multiplicities is especially manifest in our sexuali-
ties, where many combinations of with whom and how are possible.
Tragically, for complex psychocultural reasons we have sought to
limit, suppress, and constrain this richness. Shaming and stigma have
confined and narrowed choices, and not always in favor of the hetero-
sexual, e.g. Sparta. We are oppressed by the repressed. This excellent
book brings together a group of insightful and knowledgeable authors
that address the personal and social costs of shame and stigma on
sexual variations…. Sensitive, wise, and compassionate, this will be a
classic in the field for many years.”
— Paul Gilbert, PhD, FBPsS, OBE, professor of clinical
psychology at the University of Derby, and author of Human
Nature and Suffering and The Compassionate Mind
“This book is an indispensable resource for any evidence- minded cli-
nician who wants to bring acceptance, compassion, and effective
change to the lives of all of those they work with. This long- awaited,
seminal work provides practical guidance through GSM- affirming,
evidence- based treatments with care and precision. The authors and
editors of this volume honor the diversity and real- world applicability
of these treatment approaches with a depth and scope that is bound
to be greatly appreciated by any mental health provider working with
GSM clients and communities.”
— Laura Silberstein, PsyD, director and clinical psychologist at
The Center for Compassion Focused Therapy in New York
City, NY, and coauthor of The ACT Practitioner’s Guide to the
Science of Compassion and Buddhist Psychology and Cognitive-
Behavioral Therapy
“Mindfulness and Acceptance for Gender and Sexual Minorities is a
thought- provoking journey for those who serve the lesbian, gay, bisexual,
and transgender (LGBT) community. It is also a self- reflecting glimpse
for those who are learning how to understand, develop, and manage the
many facets of being a part of the LGBT identity, and the joys and strug-
gles related to the process of owning your sense of self.”
—Robin McGehee, cofounder of GetEQUAL
“I had the pleasure of attending a few ACT workshops, both daylong and
brief, and found ACT’s way of pinpointing, relating, and neutralizing the
deeply ingrained patterns of negative self- identity as wholly refreshing. It
was as if facilitator Aisling Curtin coaxed what we didn’t realize we’d
always known, regarding how the world can cause us to feel displaced,
dysfunctional, and othered. What Curtin and coeditor Matthew Skinta
have done here is apply these individuated, gentle, and psychically loos-
ening techniques to identity groups currently in the maelstrom of public
scrutiny, as they incrementally gain equal rights across the West.”
— Clara Rose Thornton, culture journalist and radio and television
broadcaster focusing on identity politics; InkBlot Complex
“Skinta and Curtin have achieved a rare feat in this volume: along with
their contributors, they have delivered a book that captures the zeitgeist
of today’s contextual psychology with as much depth and nuance as they
bring to their discussion of clinical issues and approaches with LGBT
clients. The result is a text that speaks equally to experts in contextual
psychology who are eager to increase their cultural competence with
LGBT clients, as well as those who are keenly familiar with LGBT popu-
lations who are eager to learn and incorporate acceptance and mindful-
ness approaches within their work. No matter which end of the spectrum
the reader comes from, they will walk away with a thorough, practical,
and immediately applicable knowledge base in both arenas.”
— Mary P. Loudon, PhD, licensed clinical psychologist and certified
functional analytic psychotherapy (FAP) trainer
The
Mindfulness & Acceptance
Practica Series
As mindfulness and acceptance-based therapies gain
momentum in the field of mental health, it is increas-
ingly important for professionals to understand the full
range of their applications. To keep up with the growing
demand for authoritative resources on these treatments,
The Mindfulness and Acceptance Practica Series was
created. These edited books cover a range of evidence-
based treatments, such as acceptance and commitment
therapy (ACT), cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT),
compassion-focused therapy (CFT), dialectical behav-
ioral therapy (DBT), and mindfulness-based stress re-
duction (MBSR) therapy. Incorporating new research in
the field of psychology, these books are powerful tools for
mental health clinicians, researchers, advanced students,
and anyone interested in the growth of mindfulness and
acceptance strategies.
Visit www.newharbinger.com for
more books in this series.

MINDFULNESS &
ACCEPTANCE for GENDER
& SEXUAL MINORITIES
A Clinician’s Guide to Fostering
Compassion, Connection & Equality
Using Contextual Strategies
Edited by
MATTHEW D. SKINTA, PD, ABPP
AISLING CURTIN, MS
C P
ONTEXT RESS
An Imprint of New Harbinger Publications, Inc.