The Happiness Trap: How to Stop Struggling and Start Living: A Guide to ACT

It took me a long time to get through this book. I had it sitting on the shelf amongst several other self-help titles, and when I reached certain portions of the book I found myself bored or disinterested in taking the kind of actions suggested, so I moved to another title. I later realized that by doing so I was exercising my own 'control strategies' as Russ puts it, which really didn't do anything to help me live a rich and fulfilling life. Aware of this trend, I decided to read the book right to the end without worrying too much about doing the exercises. I just completed it the other day, and have now rid myself of most self-help books and products, dedicated rather to something that works - acceptance, mindfulness, and living according to my values. I had bought into the values of others, and with the help of Russ and others am now slowly moving towards my own values. At the same time, I have a set of tools to help me deal with the anxiety that is keeping me from living a fulfilling life.

A beautifully written, clear, and concise ACT book. "The Happiness Trap" is not only useful as a self-help book, but it is also a fantastic book for clinicians who want an easy to read, complete summary of ACT. Russ manages to captivate his audience so that you really must keep reading until the end!

I recommend this book to all my clients and colleagues. In a very accessible and captivating way, Dr Russ Harris made us understand how our mind can sometimes be an enemy to living a rich, vital and meaningful life. The book is full of EFFECTIVE, evidence-based strategies to effectively respond to our distressing emotions, thus reducing their impact on us. It also gives us strategies to disentangle ourselves from self-defeating thoughts. As we are able to free ourselves from the impact of unhelpful thoughts and feelings, we stop figthing them, and can invest our energy in living our life. As I read the book, I realize that life is not about having happy, pleasant thoughts and feelings. It is about living a meaningful life consistent with our values. The Acceptance and Commitment Therapy gives us the needed tools to just do that: FREE ourselves from our MIND and have the energy to live a meaningful life. The Happiness Trappy is the most accessible, easiest to understand book on ACT therapy. It is the first book I recommend you to read on ACT. And if you become passionate about ACT like me, you can continue with many other fantastic and helpful books on ACT by other authors. Dung Nguyen, Psychologist, Adelaide, Australia

I don't generally like books with happiness in the title. They tend to be trying to tell me how I can be happy, or otherwise they're so vague and new-age that I wonder whether the author is for real. This book was very different. This book is practical, very well written, and genuine in its approach. It doesn't make grandiose claims. Instead, it is based on a very solid theoretical and empirical foundation, yet it doesn't get caught up in unnecessary jargon. It's also a great example of how Acceptance and Commitment Therapy can be applied to every day life. The importance it places on living a life that you value is excellent, and avoids many of the pitfalls of the contemporary cultural assumption that happiness (or lack of unhappiness) is the goal of self-help/life. People who will find this book most helpful: - Anyone who suffers from depression or anxiety - Anyone who wants to be happy, but always fails to achieve it - Anyone who wants to learn about Acceptance and Commitment Therapy - Anyone who struggles with their thoughts/thinks too much. - Anyone who's seeking to grow

According to the Declaration of Independence, the "pursuit of happiness" is one of our "inalienable rights." As Russ Harris masterfully points out in this book, however, the pursuit of values over the long haul, rather than happiness, is more likely to lead to a full and meaningful life. The overall approach within the book is based upon acceptance and commitment therapy or ACT, which has increasingly been shown to be helpful in alleviating a wide range of human suffering. Rather than being a stodgy, stuffy presentation of ACT (and believe me, having written some of those myself - I know one when I see one!), the book reads more like a series of short stories which Dr. Harris presents in a conversational and engaging style to ilustrate how all of us can adopt a more kind and compassionate approach to our struggles with self-doubts, unwanted emotions, and worrisome thoughts. Indeed, the book could have just as easily been entitled "ACT for Dummies" not because it oversimplifies the approach, but because it makes it so accessible, understandable, and easy to apply. If you've heard about ACT and would like to know more about it, or have never heard of it, but want to check out what all the fuss is about, this is the place to start. I highly recommend the book to not only those of us who have fallen into the "happiness trap," but also to our friends, loved ones, and mental health professionals who have tried to liberate us from it. It can be usefully read and applied by itself or as an introduction to ACT before moving on to workbooks in the area such as "Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life." Don't wait for the movie!