This program introduces new psychological approaches stemming from so called “Contextual and Behavioral Interventions” to help people manage their health conditions by building what is known as “Psychological Flexibility.”
Psychological Flexibility helps people:
- Develop resilience to negative thoughts, so they don’t stop them from living a meaningful life.
- Stay focused on what truly matters, even when dealing with medical challenges.
Instead of trying to change difficult thoughts or feelings, this approach encourages recognizing and managing how these thoughts and emotions affect behavior. For instance, feelings like shame about skin conditions can prevent people from living fully, and trying to change those thoughts may not always help.
Research shows that being open, aware, and active in facing body-related issues promotes better coping and resilience.
Self-help programs based on this idea have been successful for people with skin and other long-term health conditions. Now, we offer these tools in a self-guided, digital format.
Our research collaborations have tested similar concepts and developed prototypes, showing the efficacy of programs, focusing at increasing psychological flexibility to individuals with skin conditions.
Below, we present some of our published work:
- Powell L.D, Vasiliou,
S.V & Thompson, A.R. (2023). An ACT self-help
intervention for adults with a visible difference in appearance: A randomized controlled study, Body Image, 47, 101637- Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37839287/
- Vasiliou,
S.V., Russell, H., & Thompson, R.T (2023). A
network analysis of Psychological Flexibility processes as coping with stigma
responses in people living with skin conditions, Frontiers in
Medicine (Dermatology),23- link: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/medicine/articles/10.3389/fmed.2023.1075672/full
- Keenan, E., Morris, R., Vasiliou, S.V., & Thompson, A. (2023). A Qualitative feasibility and acceptability study of an Acceptance and Commitment- based bibliotherapy intervention for people with cancer. Journal of Health Psychology, 1-15 doi. 10.1177/13591053231216017
- Link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11005316/