A

 Bo%om  Up  RFT  approach  to  

the  Self  and  Mindfulness    

Louise  McHugh  
University  College  Dublin  
 Mindfulness  
•  ‘Nonjudgmental  observa>on  of  the  ongoing  
stream  of  internal  and  external  s>muli  as  they  
arise’  (Baer,  2003,  p.  125)  
 
–  Mindfulness-­‐Based  Stress  Reduc>on  (MBSR)  
–  Mindfulness-­‐Based  Cogni>ve  Therapy  (MBCT)  
–  Acceptance  and  Commitment  Therapy  (ACT)  
 Mindfulness  and  changes  in  the  brain  
•  Actual  structure  of  the  brain  is  changed  by  
mindfulness  prac>ce  (Lazur,  2011)  

•  Regular  mindfulness  increased  thickness  of  

brain  areas  connected  with  cogni>on  
–  hippocampus  and  cortex  

•  Cortex  normally  get    

 thinner  with  age  
 Exercising  our  brain  via  mindfulness  
•  Just  as  when  you  exercise  your  muscles  in  the  
gym,  they  become  larger  as  well  as  stronger  

•  When  you  use  areas  of  the  brain  their  

structure  changes    

 
 The  default  network    
•  Is  a  network  of  brain  regions  that  are  ac>ve  
when  the  individual  is  not  focused  on  the  
outside  world  and  the  brain  is  at  wakeful  rest  
 Self  Neural  Signature  
•  Kelley  et  al.  (2002)  used  fMRI  to  iden>fy  the  neural  
signature  of  self-­‐referen>al  neural  ac>vity  

•  Self-­‐reference  paradigm  
–  Par>cipants  judged  trait  adjec>ves  in  one  of  three  ways:    
•  self  (“does  it  describe  you?”)  
•  other  (does  it  describe  George  Bush?”)  
•  case  (“Is  it  presented  in  upper  case  le_ers?”)  

•  Results  showed  the  self  condi>on  was  best  for  memory  

and  the  case  condi>on  worst  
 Neural  Signature  
 
•  Results  showed  that  self  trials  were  dis>nc>ve  
for  DMN  ac>vity,  sugges>ng  this  region  might  
be  involved  in  the  effect  
  Default  Mode  Network  

  Me  me  me  me  me  me  

me  
 Experienced  vs  Novice  
•  fMRI  –  scanned  brains  of  both  novice  and  
experienced  meditators  as  they  prac>ced  
mindfulness  (Judson  Brewer)  

•  Experienced  meditators  were  be  able  to  

switch  off  the  default  mode  network    
–  Medial  prefrontal  cortex    
Experienced  meditators  seem  to  
switch  off  areas  of  the  brain  
associated    
-­‐  with  wandering  thoughts    
-­‐  anxiety    
-­‐  schizophrenia  
-­‐  lapses  in  a_en>on    
-­‐  ADHD  

 
The  areas  shaded  in  blue  
highlight  areas  of  decreased  
ac>vity  in  the    
brains  of  meditators  
Overac>ve  default  mode  network?  
•  A  preoccupa>on  with  one’s  own  thoughts  the  
psychological  hallmark  of  many  forms  of  
mental  illness  
–  anxiety  
–  depression  
–  PTSD  
–  schizophrenia    

•   Mindfulness  quiets  this  region  of  the  brain      

•  So  mindfulness  reduces  self  reflec>on?  
Where  is  your  ‘self’?  
YOU ARE HERE!

Ferrari et al 2008
 Then  who  
I  was  so   were  you?  
stressed  
yesterday,  I  
wasn’t  myself!  
Social  animals…  
 Charles  Cooley  
•  ‘Looking  Glass  Self’  

•  We  no>ce  how  people  act  towards  us  and  

derive  what  others  opinion  must  be  
 CBS  Technical  Term  Alert!  
•  Func>on  
•  Context    

•  Together  -­‐  func%onal  contextualism  

 Func>on  
•  What  is  the  ‘func>on’  of  drinking  a  cup  of  tea?  
 
 Context  
The  situa=on  where  the  behaviour  happens  

Drink  this  cup  of  

tea  or  I  will  shoot  
you!  

You  can’t  tell  the  func=on  of  a  behaviour  unless  you  know  what  the  context  is    
 What  do  we  mean  by  Behaviour?  
•  In  everyday  language,  people  use  the  word  
‘behaviour’  to  describe  ac>ons  

•  But  in  FC  behaviour  has  a  different  meaning  

•  Behaviour  is  anything  a  person  does  

–  thinking,  talking,    
remembering,  daydreaming,  
fantasizing,  and  so  on  
 In  FC  describing  is  not  enough…  
•  We  want  to  not  only  understand  and  describe  
human  behaviour…    

•  We  want  the  ability  to  predict  and  influence  it  

•  We  want  to  be  effec>ve  behaviour  change  

agents  
 CBS  Approach  to  self?  
•  Only  humans  have  a  sense  of  self  

•  Why?  
 
à  Language  
 Language    
Just  as  we  learn  to   We  also  learn  to  
manipulate  the   manipulate  it  through  
environment  with  our   sound  and  symbols  
body  and  hands  
Milk  
Please!  
 Symbolic  rela>onships  between  
things…  
•  Is  what  allows  us  to  make  sounds  that  other  
people  understand  rather  than  simply  
poin>ng  and  grun>ng  at  things  

‘HAT’
Physical Relationships

Relationships based on cues

CONTEXTUAL CUE
 We can relate in many ways

•  Same as (‘Jumjaw is the same as dog’)

•  Opposite (‘Day is opposite to Night’)
•  Different (‘Boys are different from Girls’)
•  Comparison (‘£1 is more than 10p’)
•  Causal (‘If anxious then I will mess up’)
•  Temporal (‘Bad now worse later’)
•  Perspective (‘I am here and you are there’)
Symbolic  rela>onships  between  
things…  

‘KATY’
We can relate in many ways…
Person  

(HIERARCHY)  TYPE  OF  

I  HERE  NOW    
(PERSPECTIVE)  

GIRL   SAME  AS   DIFFERENT  TO   BOY  

OPPOSITE  OF  

OLD  
 And deriving explodes…

Try this exercise: Learn four relations and see

what happens. . .

RELATION 1:

OLDER THAN

HOMER LISA
RELATION 2:

OLDER THAN

LISA MAGGIE
RELATION 3:

YOUNGER THAN

HOMER ABE
RELATION 4:

YOUNGER THAN

ABE MONTY BURNS

 From 4 Trained Relations. . .
YOUNGER

OLDER

YOUNGER

YOUNGER
OLDER

OLDER
YOU
NGE
R
OLDER
OLDER

YOUNGER
Func>on    
 
à  basically  means  the  ‘effects  something  has’  
Transformation of Functions

Psychological
Function
 Psychological
‘Dog’ Function
‘DOG’

is a

‘Jumjaw’
 Psychological
‘Jumjaw’ Function
“Small Dog” produces

“Average produces
Sized Dog”

produces
“Enormous
Dog”
 Relating and the Transformation of Functions

15 normal subjects Relational Training No Relational Training

Establish this relational 3

Microsiemen Change
network in half of them 2
using arbitrary stimuli:

relative to B
1
A<B<C 0
Give B a CS shock -1
function and then -2
present a single ½ -3
strength shock in the B - Six A - Single C - Derived
presence of A shocks 1/2 strength Large
shock
Test the C stimulus . . .
Dougher, Hamilton, Fink, & Harrington (2007)
 With age
comes…

•  Wisdom  

•  Beauty  

•  Regret  

•  Freedom  

•  Responsibility  

•  Strength  

•  Weakness    
But what has relating got to do with the self?
What  did  YOU  have  for  breakfast?  

I  had  a  
banana  for  
breakfast  

No  silly  I  had  
a  banana  for  
breakfast  
As a child begins to relate more and more of their own behavior…
I  feel  happyI    feel  sad  

…and to compare it with that of others…

I  I  aam  
m  hnappier  
ot  as  htappy  
han  
you!
as   you
 
 

I  aI  m  
am  a  ad  h appy  
epressed  
person!
person!  
 
…they begin to have a concept of self
I  am  ab
good  
 ad  
hoctor  
dusband  
I  think  of  m
lyunch=me  
our  
y  fwather  
pork  
ain  
I  go  b
ih
tnto  
o  
ack  
ome  
mty  the  
o  
office  
sdchool  
ark  

I  touch  tim
nto  
he  
y  fh
sace  
tcreen  
ot  
he  pwan  
ater  

I  see  ayou  
 nd  
d
besk  
right  
choming  
ear  future  
a  dog  

I  hear  m
a  irds  
b dy  
usic  
riving  
msother  
inging  
car  calling  

I  eat  acibce  
hocolate  
 read  
cream  
steak  
I  am  ab
good  
 ad  
hoctor  
dusband  
I  think  of  m
lyunch=me  
our  
y  fwather  
pork  
ain  
I  go  b
ih
tnto  
o  
ack  
ome  
mty  the  
o  
office  
sdchool  
ark  

I  touch  tim
nto  
he  
y  fh
sace  
tcreen  
ot  
he  pwan  
ater  

I  see  ayou  
 nd  
d
besk  
right  
choming  
ear  future  
a  dog  

I  e
hat  
ear  
acibce  
hocolate  
 read  
as  irds  
b
m teak  
dy  
usic  
criving  
ream  
msother  
inging  
car  calling  
I  am  ab
good  
 ad  
hoctor  
dusband  
I  think  of  m
lyunch=me  
our  
y  fwather  
pork  
ain  
I  go  b
ih
tnto  
o  
ack  
ome  
mty  the  
o  
office  
sdchool  
ark  

I  touch  tim
nto  
he  
y  fh
sace  
tcreen  
ot  
he  pwan  
ater  

I  se
hee  
at  
ear  acibyce  
hocolate  
 ou  
read  
and  
b
m sd
b  irds  
teak  
desk  
right  
usic  
y  
criving  
ream  
chm oming  
ear  
sother  
inging  
future  
ac  dar  
og  
calling  
I  am  ab
good  
 ad  
hoctor  
dusband  
I  think  of  m
lyunch=me  
our  
y  fwather  
pork  
ain  
I  go  b
ih
tnto  
o  
ack  
ome  
mty  the  
o  
office  
sdchool  
ark  

I  se
thouch  
ee  
at  
ear  acibyce  
hocolate  
 ou  
read  
and  
b
m sd
btim
 irds  
teak  
d
nto  
esk  
right  
usic  
y  
he  
criving  
ream  
cy  
hm oming  
ear  
fh
ssace  
other  
tcreen  
ot  
inging  
he  
future  
apc  w
dar  
an  
og  
ater  
calling  
I  think  of  m
lyunch=me  
our  
y  fwather  
pork  
ain  
I  go  b
ih
tnto  
o  
ack  
ome  
mty  the  
o  
office  
sdchool  
ark  

I  se
athouch  
ee  
m  
at  
ear  
gciyce  
ab hocolate  
ood  
 ad  
ou  
read  
and  
b
m h
d
sbtim
 irds  
teak  
usband  
octor  
d
nto  
esk  
right  
usic  
y  
he  
criving  
ream  
cy  
hm oming  
ear  
fh
ssace  
other  
tcreen  
ot  
inging  
he  
future  
apc  w
dar  
an  
og  
ater  
calling  
I  go  b
ih
tnto  
o  
ack  
ome  
mty  the  
o  
office  
sdchool  
ark  

I  tase
hhink  
m   ab
ouch  
ee  
at  
ear    ad  
d
gciayce   otim
hocolate  
ood  
ou  
read  
a  nd  
b
m h sd
b octor  
f   lym
 irds  
teak   munch=me  
our  
usband  
d
nto  
esk  
right  
usic  
y  
he  
criving  
ream  
cy  
h sy  
oming  
ear  
fh fw
father  
sace   apork  
other  
tcreen  
ot  
inging  
he   ain  
uture  
pc  w
dar  
an  
og  
ater  
calling  
I  tgse
ahhink  
ouch  
ee  
o  
m  
at  
ear  
ih
btnto  
gcio  
ab yack  
ome  
ce  
hocolate  
ood  
 ad  
ou  
read  
and  
b
m h
d
sm
b
otim
 irds  
teak  
usband  
octor  
d
nto  
esk  
right  
f  
usic  
y  
he  
cty  riving  
ream  
tcy  
h
lyhe  
mm
unch=me  
o  
oming  
oour  
ear  
fh
sy  
ffice  
sace  
other  
tcreen  
d
ot  
inging  
he  
chool  
fw
fark  
ather  
uture  
apork  
pc  w
ain  
dar  
an  
og  
ater  
calling  
 Perspec>ve-­‐taking  
•  Perspec>ve-­‐taking  as  a  key  language-­‐based  
skill  that  develops  from  early  ages  and  
underpins    
–  Empathy  
–  Sense  of  self    
–  Mindfulness  
–  Compassion      
 CBS Approach to Perspective-
Taking
•  Perspective relations specify a relation in terms of the
perspective of the speaker

Consider the three relations of:

I versus YOU
HERE versus THERE
NOW versus THEN  
 CBS Approach to Perspective-
Taking
Each time a child is asked or answers questions such as:

“What are you doing here?”

“What was I doing then?”
“What am I doing now?”
“What were you doing there?”

the physical environment will likely be different…

The only constant across such questions are the relational
properties of:
I versus You
Here versus There
Now versus Then
 Training  Flexible  Perspec>ve  Taking  
Step  1.  Basic  Perspec>ve  Training     ‘If  I  were  you,  where  would  I  be?’    
 
‘If  I  were  you  and  here  was  there,  
where  would  I  be?’    
 
Step  2.  Empathy  Training   ‘I  feel  sad.  If  you  were  me,  how  would  
you  feel?’  
 
‘I  got  promoted.  If  you  were  me,  how  
would  you  feel?’    
 
Step  3.  Self-­‐as-­‐Context     ‘I  watch  thoughts  and  feelings  come  
and  go.  Who  is  it  that  is  watching  
them?’    
  Vilardaga & Hayes, 2009
Step 1: Perspective-Taking
Two  important  variables:  

Relation Type
•  I / YOU
•  HERE / THERE
•  NOW / THEN

Complexity
•  Simple Relations
•  Reversed Relations
•  Double Reversed Relations

McHugh, Barnes-Holmes & Barnes-Holmes (2004)

A  Simple  Rela>on  
A  Reversed  Rela>on  
A  Double  Reversed  Rela>on  
The  one  where  they  use  perspec>ve  taking…    
 Step  1:  Empirical  evidence  
•  Develops  in  line  with  Theory  of  Mind    
–  McHugh  et  al.,  2004  

•  Can  be  Trained  

–  Heagle  and  Rehfeldt,  2006  
–  Weil  et  al.,  2011  

•  Deficits  in  Clinical  groups  

–  Schizophrenia  -­‐  Villa_e,  et  al.,  2010    
–  High  social  anhedonia  -­‐  Villa_e  et  al.,  2008    
–  Au>s>c  Spectrum  Condi>ons  -­‐  Rehfeldt  et  al.,  2006  
 Training  Flexible  Perspec>ve  Taking  
Step  1.  Basic  Perspec>ve  Training     ‘If  I  were  you,  where  would  I  be?’    
 
‘If  I  were  you  and  here  was  there,  
where  would  I  be?’    
 
Step  2.  Empathy  Training   ‘I  feel  sad.  If  you  were  me,  how  would  
you  feel?’  
 
‘I’ve  got  promoted.  If  you  were  me,  
how  would  you  feel?’    
 
Step  3.  Self-­‐as-­‐Context     ‘I  watch  thoughts  and  feelings  come  
and  go.  Who  is  it  that  is  watching  
them?’    
  Vilardaga & Hayes, 2009
 Difficulty  with  ToF  and  empathy…  
•  ‘You  need  low  enough  experien>al  avoidance  
that  you  do  not  run  from  the  pain  empathy  
will  give  you’  Steven  Hayes  
Avoid  sadness…   This  is  
awkward.  I   Allow  sadness…  
I  understand.  I  
really  want  to   am  here  
go  
Flexible  Perspec>ve  Taking  Exercise  
 Step  2  –  Empathy  Training  
•  Empathy  is  the  ability  to  understand  and  share  
another  person’s  emo>onal  state    
 
•  Correlated  with  posi>ve  behaviour  -­‐>  
–  Helping    
–  Reduced  an>-­‐social  behaviour  (such  as  aggression  and  
delinquency)    
–  Kindness  
–  Fairness  
–  Forgiveness  
 Step  2  –  Perspec>ve  rela>ons  and  
Empathy  
•  Empathy  -­‐  transforma>on  of  emo>onal  
func>ons  via  perspec>ve  rela>ons    

•  Imagine  you  were  Solomon  Northrup  there  

and  then.  How  do  you  feel?  
 Step  2  failures  –  Bullying  
•  Bullies  show  low  levels  of  empathy  
•  But  bullying  can  involve  advanced  
perspec>ve-­‐taking  skills  (Su_on,  et  al.,  1999)    
•  Why  Bully?  
–  Don’t  feel  emo>on?  -­‐  unlikely  
–  No  Transforma>on  of  emo>onal  func>ons?  
•  Suppression  
•  Deficits  in  ToF  of  emo>onal  func>ons  across  
perspec>ve  rela>ons  
 Step  2  failures  of  empathy  
•  Narcissis=c  personality  disorder  –  such  strong  fusion  with  
a  par>cular  conceptualised  self  that  events  tend  to  be  
universally  framed  in  terms  of  their  relevance  to  this  self  
and  thus  taking  the  perspec>ve  of  another  is  made  less  
likely  

•  High  levels  of  anxiety  -­‐  empathy  is  some>mes  possible  but  
it  oqen  results  in  such  distress  that  it  produces  not  
sympathy  for  the  other  but  self-­‐concern  and  thus  the  result  
is  the  absence  of  overt  empathic  responding  

•  Burn  out  -­‐  Low  levels  of  empathy  can  be  produced  by  
avoidance  of  the  level  of  distress  experienced  during  
previous  episodes  of  empathic  responding  
 The  TEEN  Empathy  project  

•  Now  try  to  imagine  a  >me  when  someone  you  know  was  in  a  
similar  situa>on  and  feeling  this  way?  

•  Write  a  li_le  about  that  >me  below.  

•  How  did  they  feel  then?  

 Training  Flexible  Perspec>ve  Taking  
Step  1.  Basic  Perspec>ve  Training     ‘If  I  were  you,  where  would  I  be?’    
 
‘If  I  were  you  and  here  was  there,  
where  would  I  be?’    
 
Step  2.  Empathy  Training   ‘I  feel  sad.  If  you  were  me,  how  would  
you  feel?’  
 
‘I’ve  got  promoted.  If  you  were  me,  
how  would  you  feel?’    
 
Step  3.  Self-­‐as-­‐Context     ‘I  watch  thoughts  and  feelings  come  
and  go.  Who  is  it  that  is  watching  
them?’    
  Vilardaga & Hayes, 2009
 The  Illusion  of  Self  
•  Integrated  human  being  inhabi>ng  a  body!?  

•  Weaved  together  collec>on  of  experiences    

Laura Skye & Dave Barmy
 When  our  content  traps  us…  
•  I’m  unworthy    
–  When  you  see  a  promo>on  opportunity  at  work  

•  I’m  honest    
–  Your  best  friend  asks  –  ‘does  my  bum  look  big  in  this?’  
 
•  I’m  a  hard  worker    
–  When  there  is  a  social  event  on  that  is  near  a  deadline  

•  I’m  good  at  my  job    

–  When  you  don’t  get  promoted  
 ‘I wish I was as…’
 compassionate  
as  the  Dali   young  as  I  am  in  this  
Lama   photo!    

 smart  as  
Steve  Hayes  

Comparison  is  a  bitch  

 Even  if  you  are  a  mega  star…  

1969

I  am  not  good  enough  as  I  am.  

In  order  to  be  good  enough  
I  need  to  look  a  certain  way  
1979  
1989  
2009  
Rela>onship  between  believing  thoughts  about  the  
self,  psychological  flexibility  and  general  well  being    
-­‐  Duff,  Larsson  &  McHugh  (2013)  

AAQ-­‐II   MAAS   CFQ-­‐13   GHQ-­‐12  

Believeability   .465**   -­‐.370**   .490**   .501**  

   
 SELF  AS  
CONTENT  
MINDFULNESS   I’m  not  good  
I  HERE  NOW  no>ce  my   enough.  
thoughts  and  feelings  and   I  am  too  
what  I  can  see,  hear,  touch   anxious  
taste  and  smell  

SELF  
COMPASSION   EMPATHY  
I  HERE  NOW   I  HERE  NOW  
no>ce  my  pain   no>ce  that  you  
and  respond  with     TRANSCENDENT   are  feeling  sad  
kindness   SELF  
I  HERE  NOW  am  the  
observer  of  my  
thoughts  and  
feelings  
  
 Step  3:  Self  as  Context  
Hierarchical  versus  Dis=nc=on  
Rela=ons  
 
•  Dis>nc>on  self  as  context  
–  I-­‐YOU  and  HERE-­‐THERE  explicitly  facilita>ng  
dis>nc>on  between  self  and  experiences  
•  Hierarchical  self  as  context  
–  I-­‐HERE-­‐NOW  contain  my  experiences  

Foody,  Barnes-­‐Holmes,  Barnes-­‐Holmes  &  Luciano,  2013  

  
Hierarchy  versus  Dis=nc=on  
 
Pre  VAS  ra>ngs  

Distress  induc>on  

Post  induc>on  VAS  

Self  as  Context  Interven>on  

Post  interven>on  VAS  

  
 Self  as  Context  
Hierarchical  versus  Dis=nc=on  
Rela=ons  
 
 Step  3  Interven>on  
Self  Threatening  Informa>on  
•  Nega>ve  self  referen>al  informa>on  which  
relates  to  an  underlying  character  or  
behavioural  trait  which  is  certain,  descrip>ve  
and  important  

•  Selec>vely  forget  or  inhibit  self  threatening  

informa>on  (Green  et    al.,  2007)  
UNTRUSTWORTHY   UNKIND   SELFISH  

Saunders, Barawi & McHugh, 2013

Trustworthy-­‐untrustworthy     Kind-­‐unkind    

I  would  offer  to  

I  would  keep   care  for  a  
secrets  when   neighbour’s  child  
asked  to   when  the  
babysi_er  could  
not  come  

Central Behaviours
Saunders, Barawi & McHugh, 2013
Modest-­‐immodest     Complaining-­‐uncomplaining    

I  would  take  the  

focus  off  myself   I  would  minimize  
and  redirect  it  to   bad  experiences  
others   when  telling  about  
them  

“Consider  the  following  descrip>on  of  

YOURSELF.  Think  of  the  descrip>on  as  being  
based  on  actual  knowledge  of  people  who  
know  you  well.  Think  of  the  descrip>on  as  
Peripheral Behaviours real”    
Saunders, Barawi & McHugh, 2013
 Results  I  

0.45

0.4

0.35

0.3
Number
Remembered 0.25
Self as Context
Mindfulness
0.2 Unfocused Attention

0.15

0.1

0.05

0
Central Positive Central Negative Peripheral Positive Peripheral Negative

Saunders, Barawi & McHugh, 2013

 From  Self  as  Process  to  Compassion  
via  perspec>ve  rela>ons  
Self  as  process  
•  Think  of  a  >me  when  you  were  in  distress  that  someone  invalidated  your  
pain?  

•  Contact  how  you  felt  at  that  >me  

 
Empathy  
•  Think  of  a  >me  when  you  invalidated  someone  else’s  pain  when  they  were  
distressed  
 
•  Now  contact  how  they  felt  then  
 
Compassion  
•  Now  imagine  yourself  going  back  in  >me  and  responding  differently  to  this  
person  
 Informing  interven>on?  
!

DSM$Category$ RFT$conceptualisation$ Intervention$

$
ASD! Reduced!or!absent! Reversal!and!double!
deictic!framing! reversal!perspective! Step  1  
training!
!
Schizophrenic! Limited!reversal!and! Reversal!and!double!
! double!reversal!deictics! reversal!perspective!
training!
Step  1  
!
Socially!anhedonic! Limited!reversal!and! Reversal!and!double!
! double!reversal!deictics! reversal!perspective!
training! Step  1  
!
Bullying! Reduced!or!absent!ToF!of! Perspective!training!in!
emotional!functions!due! emotional!funcs!!
to!reduction!or!absence! Step  2  
of!emotional!functions!
Depression! Fusion!with!IBbad! Self!as!Context!training!
! Step  3  
No!self!as!context!
 ACT  Self  Goals  
1.  Undermine  a_achment  to  self  as  content    
 
2.  Help  no>ce  con>nual  flow  of  experience  
 
3.  Help  increase  the  availability  of  flexible  
perspec>ve  taking  
          
 QUESTIONS?  

QUESTIONS?