Committed Action in Practice A Clinician S Guide To Assessing Planning and Supporting Change in Your Client Patricia A. Bach

Committed Action in Practice A
Clinician s Guide to Assessing

Planning and Supporting Change in
Your Client Patricia A. Bach
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“Committed action for specific behavior change is perhaps the most important piece of the
acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) puzzle, and it is all too often overlooked.
Some of the true ACT pioneers and the brightest minds in behavior therapy have given
you the perfect roadmap to take your clients from possibility to action. Highly recom-
mended reading!”
—Dennis Tirch PhD, founder of The Center for Compassion Focused Therapy,
associate clinical professor at Mount Sinai, and coauthor of The ACT
Practitioner’s Guide to the Science of Compassion
“Years ago, as a young clinician trained in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), I was often
flummoxed in the face of this situation: I knew what clients needed to do to improve their
psychological well-being, but how could I get them to actually do it? Now, as a clinical
director and supervisor who works with complex and treatment refractory clients, that
same question continues to arise. Committed Action in Practice is a practical, pragmatic
book, useful for clinicians across a range of presenting issues, in the clinic, in schools, or
for life coaches. Its greatest strength is that it brings the evidence-based behavioral prin-
ciples and strategies inherent in ACT to bear on this simple yet quintessential question:
How do you help clients do what they need to do? This book distills ACT into elements of
valuing and committed action—the core motivational framework of ACT that will assist
clients to move forward in their lives whatever stage of change they are in. Clearly written,
and easily consumed, this is a book I highly recommend and will reach for again and again
when clients hit their stuck points in treatment.”
—Lisa W. Coyne, PhD, cofounder and director of the New England Center for
OCD and Anxiety (www.newenglandocd.org), founder and senior clinical
consultant of the McLean OCD Institute for Children and Adolescents, and
an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School
“Moran, Bach, and Batten did it again! This book is a must-read for all ACT practitioners
looking to optimize and augment their ACT skills by returning to core behavioral princi-
ples applied specifically to the process of committed action. This exciting new book shows
us how to assess, enhance treatment outcomes, and troubleshoot potential obstacles—as
they usually come in therapy—when facilitating values-based living. All chapters are
clearly written, full of examples, and have clear explanations. You won’t get lost when
reading this ACT book! Moran, Bach, and Batten also offer a fresh perspective about how
to blend committed action with other empirically supported interventions capitalizing on
the flexibility of the ACT model. This is a practical and powerful ACT book to read!”
—Patricia E. Zurita Ona, PsyD, founder of East Bay Behavior Therapy Center,
author of Parenting a Troubled Teen and Escaping the Emotional Rollercoaster,
and coauthor of Mind and Emotions
“This book is an essential tool for all professionals who apply evidence-based psychothera-
pies. It goes straight to the core of the ACT and all other evidence-based models: helping
the patient to move in the chosen valued direction. It describes how to build flexible pat-
terns of committed actions by creating and working inside a meaningful therapeutic rela-
tionship. As the therapist’s actions are the quintessential element of the therapeutic
relationship, it also carefully addresses the obstacles in his or her own committed patterns
to ease the process with the clients. A must-have, -read, and -practice for every ACT and
non-ACT therapist.”
—Giovambattista Presti, MD, PhD, psychotherapist, associate professor
in the department of general psychology at Kore University (Enna, Italy),
and president of the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science
“A must-read for ACT practitioners! The crucial importance of committed action is

evident, yet it is rarely illuminated how this core process is interwoven into the entire
model. Considering how committed action functions within the context of one’s life can
make the difference between intent and action, and Moran, Bach, and Batten give us the
tools to do just that.”
—M. Joann Wright, PhD, peer-reviewed ACT trainer, and coauthor of
Learning ACT for Group Treatment
“What a breath of fresh air! I highly recommend this original and much-needed book,
which truly fleshes out the ACT model in a myriad of ways. If you think committed action
is just goals, action plans, and problem-solving, think again. Committed action is an excit-
ing and ever-expanding part of ACT, and the authors do a fantastic job of explaining the
vast range of different interventions and strategies it covers, and teaching you how to
quickly and effectively implement them. No two ways about it: if you’ve got stuck clients
(and hey, who doesn’t?), you need this book!”
—Russ Harris, author of ACT Made Simple and The Happiness Trap
The Mastering ACT Series
Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is a powerful,

evidence-based model that has been used successfully
in treating an array of disorders such as addiction,
depression, anxiety, self-harm, post-traumatic stress,
and eating disorders. Written by renowned leaders and
researchers in the field of ACT, the Mastering ACT series
explores each of the six processes of the ACT hexaflex:
acceptance, cognitive defusion, being present, self-as-
context, values, and committed action.
Based in the latest ACT research, this series is designed

to take complex theories and translate them into easy-to-
apply skills clinicians can utilize in treatment sessions.
Each book examines the theoretical aspects of a core
ACT process, details how each process can be seamlessly
and effectively introduced into therapy, and offers
multiple techniques to enhance treatment outcomes and
increase client psychological flexibility—the backbone
of ACT. These books are essential tools for clinicians,
researchers, students, and anyone interested in ACT.
Visit www.newharbinger.com for

more books in this series.
Committed
Action
IN PRACTICE
A CLINICIAN’S GUIDE TO
ASSESSING, PLANNING &
SUPPORTING CHANGE
IN YOUR CLIENT
DANIEL J. MORAN, P h D
PATRICIA A. BACH, P h D
SONJA V. BATTEN, P h D
Context Press
An Imprint of New Harbinger Publications, Inc.
Publisher’s Note
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to
the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged
in rendering psychological, financial, legal, or other professional services. If expert assistance
or counseling is needed, the services of a competent professional should be sought.
Distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books
Copyright © 2018 by Daniel J. Moran, Patricia A. Bach, and Sonja V. Batten

Context Press
An imprint of New Harbinger Publications, Inc.
5674 Shattuck Avenue
Oakland, CA 94609
www.newharbinger.com
Cover design by Amy Shoup
Acquired by Catharine Meyers
Edited by Susan LaCroix
Indexed by James Minkin
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data on file

Contents
1 What Is Committed Action? �� 1
2 Perspectives on Commitment ��17
3 The Fundamentals of Contextual Behavioral Science for

Supporting Committed Action �� 33
4 Assessing and Planning Committed Actions with Contextual

Behavioral Science�� 53
5 Identifying Obstacles to Committed Action��69
6 Addressing Obstacles to Committed Action on the Part

of the Client��81
7 Addressing Obstacles to Committed Action on the Part

of the Therapist �� 97
8 Reviewing Evidence-Based Psychotherapies�� 115
9 Blending Evidence-Based Approaches with ACT �� 141
10 Application of Committed Action: Case Examples��163
11 Bringing It All Together ��183
References�� 195
Index��205
CHAPTER 1
What Is Committed Action?
S
ofia complains to her clinician that therapy isn’t helping her become the person
she wants to be. After three months, she still doesn’t have a job, she still lives
with her parents, she hasn’t lost any weight, and her English skills haven’t
improved. In addition, she is still depressed and anxious most of the time, and isn’t sure
she can change anything else in her life while feeling so depressed and anxious. At a
casual glance, Sofia appears to be a dedicated therapy client, always arriving early to
her sessions, completing detailed and neatly written behavioral logs between sessions,
and able to articulate goals. However, when it comes to action, she frequently makes
plans to do things, and rarely carries them out.
Sofia wants to move out of her parents’ house and live independently, and she’s
acknowledged that she needs to earn an income in order to do so, yet she’s been unem-
ployed since she completed training as a dental hygienist two years ago. At times, she
says that she really wants to earn money, and at other times she says that her parents
owe it to her to take care of her. Further, she recently stated that because she’s an immi-
grant from Mexico and speaks English with a heavy accent, she can’t apply for jobs
until she improves her English. However, when her therapist invites her to brainstorm
about opportunities to practice her English, Sofia balks at most of the suggestions
because she doesn’t want to look stupid to others. She also reports that she believes
she’ll have more success finding a job if she loses weight. Every few weeks she announces
that she has a new diet plan and describes in detail why she thinks this one will work.
She successfully follows each diet for five to ten days, then abandons it, giving reasons
such as “It’s unbearable feeling hungry all the time,” “This week was really stressful, and
I just can’t diet when I’m stressed out,” or “It was my mother’s birthday, and I had to eat
the birthday cake my tía made for my mom. Since I broke my diet, I just gave up.”
Sofia is like many clients in therapy. She wants her life to be different, yet she isn’t
entirely clear about how she wants it to be different. Perhaps more importantly, she’s
convinced that she must feel better before she can take action and that she can’t behave
effectively when she feels distressing emotions. She gives up easily when obstacles arise,
and she isn’t very open to exploring the multiple courses of action available to her. Sofia
Committed Action in Practice
can sometimes describe what she wants in vague terms or articulate specific goals, such
as getting a job; however, those statements don’t serve as commitments with which she
follows through. And although she can come up with actions she might take that are
consistent with her stated goals, that isn’t committed action either.
Committed action means engaging in behavior guided by personal values, even in
the presence of unwanted thoughts or feelings and external hindrances that can impede
such behaviors. Committed action is one of the six core processes in acceptance and
commitment therapy (ACT). It is also both a process and an outcome of the therapy
specifically, and of psychological flexibility more generally. The aims of this book are to
aid clinicians in three key ways: developing and increasing a repertoire of interventions
that build commitment; working with other core ACT processes to assist clients with
committed action; and promoting values-consistent client behaviors in the service of
psychological flexibility.
Take a moment to analyze the behavior you’re engaged in right now: reading this
book. You might be reading this book as a committed action in the service of learning,
perfecting, or expanding your understanding of ACT to improve your ability to increase
committed actions of your clients, or you might be reading the book because you’re
completing an assignment in a graduate course in psychotherapy. Maybe you’re reading
this book because a friend gave it a stellar review and you want to see what your friend
was excited about. Alternatively, reading this volume might merely be an action in the
service of passing idle time on a long flight or avoiding a more aversive task, such as
washing the dishes. Your behavior, and the behavior of all people, is influenced by lots
of different variables. Human behavior has many different functions, and we will
explore that concept throughout the book. We hope you find that the time you spend
reading this volume increases your clinical repertoire and flexibility in regard to apply-
ing ACT, no matter what the endeavor is in the service of.
About This Book

We approached writing this book with an assumption that readers may have differing
levels of familiarity with ACT. In order to minimize redundancy with content that’s
available in many other excellent books on ACT and its clinical application, and
because the principal topic of this book is committed action, we’ve worked to balance
adequate scope with sufficient depth. On the one hand, because ACT’s six core pro-
cesses are related, we must give considerable attention to all of them. On the other
hand, in order to minimize repetition and stay focused on committed action, we’ve
chosen to keep general discussion of the ACT model brief, summarizing or referring
readers to other sources of information. Of course, in regard to committed action, we
2
dive in deep and explore working with this process in ACT, as well as other evidence-
based psychotherapies, and consider applications of committed action work to both
clients and clinicians. We also provide brief case examples throughout the book, as well
as detailed case descriptions as an aid in applying ACT and committed action tech-
niques to specific problems and presenting complaints. We hope that, by the end of
reading this book, the reader will have both a bird’s-eye view of the importance of com-
mitment throughout the therapy process and a close-up, detailed understanding of how
to apply committed action interventions at discrete moments in session.
What Are You Committed To?

Now we’ll return to the issues raised earlier in regard to reading this book: “What is
that in the service of?” We invite you to briefly consider what goals and values bring
you to this book. Perhaps you hope to become a better ACT therapist, or learn new
techniques to promote client behavior change; maybe you’re reading this for a class, or
maybe you have a large deadline looming and reading this book is nothing more than
an avoidance strategy. Whatever brings you to this book, welcome!—and read on. If, by
the time you reach the end of this volume, you have a better understanding of commit-
ted action, we will have successfully executed at least one of our commitments toward
a valued direction.
The ACT Model and Core ACT Processes

Before we delve further into committed action, we’ll review all of the core ACT pro-
cesses and consider each as it relates to committed action. The desired outcome of
ACT is increased psychological flexibility, defined as “contacting the present moment as
a conscious human being, fully and without needless defense—as it is and not as what
it says it is—and persisting with or changing behavior in the service of chosen values”
(Hayes, Strosahl, & Wilson, 2012, pp. 96–97). To put it another way, “individuals with
greater psychological flexibility are focused on the ‘here-and-now,’ agile when dealing
with emotions, and personally motivated to achieve significant objectives” (Moran,
2015, p. 26). The ultimate goal of most psychotherapies is behavior change. These defi-
nitions of psychological flexibility are all about action, and psychological flexibility is
only apparent in actions in context. In other words, the behavior of the individual is
understood when considered in the context in which it occurs.
Behavior change is hard. It does not matter whether a person is committed to
losing ten pounds, learning a second language, reducing anxious avoidance, or learning
3
to cope with chronic pain—all worthy goals require effort. Effort can be experienced as
aversive. Losing ten pounds often requires effortful exercise and adopting a restrictive
diet. Many people do not like those efforts and restrictions, so there are many people
who continue to be overweight. Making a commitment to lose weight is difficult. The
same can be said for the other aforementioned behavior changes. They require aversive
effort, and some people are unwilling to have those experiences. The committed action
piece of the ACT model helps to deal with those obstacles while building psychological
flexibility. While committed action refers to specific behaviors in specific contexts,
psychological flexibility is more general. The psychologically flexible person is able to
use the core ACT processes to support the identification of committed actions and
opportunities to engage in them, and increase willingness to sustain and overcome
obstacles to behavior change in the service of values.
ACT is based on the assumption that experiential avoidance is a core problem in
much of what is considered to be psychopathology. Experiential avoidance is a process
that involves avoiding unwanted thoughts, emotions, sensations, and other private
events, such as memories or negative judgments about oneself. In the short term, avoid-
ance of these events often seems like a means to feeling good. However, there is con-
siderable evidence indicating that attempts to suppress unwanted private events usually
fail, and can paradoxically increase, rather than decrease, negative private experiences
(Wenzlaff & Wegner, 2000). Thus, within the ACT model, attempting to control
private experience is seen as a core part of the problem, rather than a solution. A
detailed review of the ACT model is beyond the scope of this volume, so for in-depth
information, please refer to the suggested readings at the end of this chapter. This
volume offers a brief description of the core ACT processes to help you understand how
committed action fits the context of the full ACT model. The six core ACT processes
are acceptance, defusion, contact with the present moment, self-as-context, values, and
committed action. The ACT model is often represented using a hexagonal diagram, as
in figure 1.
Each core ACT process is represented by a point on the hexagon, and psychologi-
cal flexibility—the desired outcome—is placed at the center. Because the hexagon
model represents an attempt to build psychological flexibility, it has been nicknamed
“the hexaflex.” The lines connecting all of the processes with each other illustrate that
they are all interrelated. Specifically, each process entails and facilitates the other pro-
cesses. We may talk about them at times as if they are distinct processes, and specific
ACT interventions might highlight one or more processes over the others, but multiple
processes are almost always involved in any given behavior or intervention (Hayes,
2006). Now let’s talk about the six processes.
4
Figure 1. The ACT hexaflex.
Committed Action
Jean-Paul Sartre (1963) famously observed that “Commitment is an act, not a
word.” Commitment is a fundamental aspect of ACT. In psychological treatments,
committed action occurs when clients engage in clinically relevant behaviors that
reflect improvement. The new or altered behavior is engaged in the service of the per-
son’s values and without entanglement with the person’s problematic thoughts, unhelp-
ful rules, or other verbal events. The committed action happens while the client is in
contact with the present moment, and the person is accepting of the physiological and
emotional responses elicited in that context. In such situations, clients have a better
platform from which to take steps toward clinical improvement. Countless behaviors
can constitute committed action: A client with social anxiety disorder might interact
with others more often. A client who values spending time with his family might
commit to a regular date night with his wife, attending his daughter’s soccer games, and
5
helping his son with his homework. A client with obsessive-compulsive disorder might
engage in exposure and response prevention (also known as exposure and ritual
prevention—the terms will be used interchangeably in this text) therapy. A recovering
heroin user might attend regular meetings of Narcotics Anonymous, take the opioid
agonist drug naltrexone, and identify and engage in activities she enjoys that support
her sobriety.
Because committed actions are always tied to individual values, they are always
selected by the client. The clinician’s role is to work with clients to brainstorm and
identify achievable committed actions while also identifying the potential barriers and
ways to overcome those barriers. As alluded to just above, committed action is aided by
and involves the other core ACT processes. We will touch upon these relationships in
the descriptions of the other core ACT processes that follow, and we will explore these
interrelationships more deeply throughout the book.
As you review the descriptions of the other processes that follow, we invite you to
be mindful that although the word “action” appears only in the term “committed
action,” all six of the ACT processes are demonstrated through action. Westrup (2014)
cautions clinicians that it can be easy to regard the core ACT processes as six separate
things, rather than more accurately seeing them as interrelated abilities that ACT ther-
apists work to cultivate in clients over time. At any time in session, one process or
another might be especially apt for addressing a behavior in the moment. It is worth
revisiting the idea that work on any one of the processes necessarily entails or facilitates
work on the others, and promotes the overarching process of psychological flexibility.
Now that we’ve discussed the committed action process directly, let’s look at the other
five processes as they relate to commitment.
Acceptance
Acceptance means being willing to experience all the thoughts and feelings that
show up in the course of living fully (Hayes, 1994), whether they are experienced as
positive or negative, desirable or undesirable. Experiential avoidance is the opposite of
acceptance. Trying to control or regulate private experiences such as thoughts and feel-
ings reduces people’s capacity to respond effectively. For example, clients with an
anxiety disorder might avoid or escape situations that elicit anxiety in order to stave off
unwanted thoughts and feelings. For such clients, acceptance might mean increased
willingness to feel anxious when anxiety accompanies behavior that moves them
toward desired outcomes. In order to facilitate acceptance, ACT therapists help clients
explore their history, assess the potential or actual costs of unwillingness, and consider
when acceptance might be a beneficial alternative. Acceptance is not the same as
wanting or liking the feelings; rather, it reflects willingness to experience all thoughts,
feelings, bodily sensations, and other private experiences, when avoiding them has
negative consequences.
6
Attempts to avoid, control, or regulate thoughts and feelings can be costly. Focusing
on unwanted experiences and attempting to regulate them takes time and draws upon
limited attentional resources and stamina (Kashdan, Morina, & Priebe, 2009). For
example, someone with social anxiety who’s attempting to control her nervousness
while giving a speech has a diminished ability to effectively give her speech. Avoiding
unwanted feelings through inaction is also costly. For instance, a depressed client who
has committed to go for a walk and contact one friend each day may find that he has
thoughts that tell him, There’s no point in doing this, or Go back to bed, accompanied by
feelings of despair. He might avoid such feelings of despair by going back to bed. This
creates a downward spiral, because when he gets out of bed, he’s likely to have more
self-denigrating thoughts, because he didn’t follow through on his action plan. In con-
trast, if he’s willing to have unwanted thoughts and feelings of despair and doesn’t try to
fight or avoid them, he’ll be in a better position to successfully execute his plan. Thus,
experiential avoidance hinders committed action, whereas acceptance facilitates it.
Defusion
Defusion means noticing our thoughts as a natural private experience rather than
being controlled by the thoughts as if they were literal truths or required guidelines for
action. Conversely, cognitive fusion involves taking thoughts literally and relating to
them as if they capture reality. When we’re fused with inner content, we don’t notice
that the mind produces all kinds of thoughts, such as judgments, evaluations, memories
about the past, and plans about the future. Rather, we actually let those experiences
have an impact on our actions. When we are fused to certain thoughts that have little
or no bearing on what’s happening in the moment, we might miss out on important
cues for valued action in the present moment.
In ACT, defusion techniques help clients see their thoughts as mere mind chatter.
For example, a person fused with the thought I am unlovable might avoid spending time
with others, have a negative take on neutral or positive experiences, minimize emo-
tional risks, and behave in ways that keep others at a distance. In contrast, a person
engaging in defusion might notice negative thoughts and self-judgments, see them as
products of his own mind, and move on without taking any overt action to change the
content of those thoughts. Defusion increases one’s flexibility to act in the moment
based on the events that are actually unfolding, rather than based primarily on what’s
going on in the mind. In this way, defusion frees clients to act on the basis of their
values and their current environmental contingencies. However, defusion might be
described as “simple, but not easy.” Fusion is actually a by-product of language, and it
isn’t possible to remain defused from language at all times (Hayes, Strosahl, et al.,
2012).
7
ACT therapists facilitate defusion through experiential exercises that aim to make
clients more aware of how automatically most language processes occur, and by having
clients practice noticing their thoughts as thoughts in the moment. Defusion facilitates
committed action, because a defused stance allows clients to keep their focus on engag-
ing in valued behavior rather than buying into judgments, evaluations, and other mind
chatter.
Contact with the Present Moment

Contact with the present moment can be fostered by mindful behavior. When
people are behaving mindfully, their attention is fully in the present moment, and they
are nonjudgmental and accepting of their experience (Baer, Smith, Hopkins,
Kreitemeyer, & Toney, 2006). As seen through an ACT lens, contact with the present
moment entails acceptance and defusion. It also facilitates committed action, as it
increases people’s capacity to see opportunities to act effectively and frees cognitive
resources that might otherwise be fixated on the future or past, making those resources
available for effective action in the moment. In many approaches to the practice of
mindfulness, the person chooses a behavior (breathing, sensing the body, gazing at a
candle, and so on), and then makes a commitment to continue focusing on that behav-
ior. When the person gets distracted by thoughts or sensations or other private events
unrelated to the commitment to pay attention to that chosen behavior, the person
practices re-attending to that commitment by gently letting the distracting stimuli go,
and reorienting attention to the chosen behavior. Mindfulness exercises are at their
very core a skills building approach for engaging in committed action: you choose a
behavior, you do the behavior, and when you stop doing the behavior because of exter-
nal or internal stimuli, you practice changing how you related to the distractions, and
come back to doing the chosen behavior.
This is an important skill for people to have, and even more importantly, this skill
will hopefully generalize to other situations beyond when the person is sitting on a
meditation cushion. From a behavioral science point of view, the skills learned during
a mindfulness exercise can help a person to commit to attending to other things besides
just the breath or a candle flame. For example, when a client begins to have a regular
mindfulness practice, she might build the skills to be more attentive at the workplace,
and if her occupational values influence her to choose to increase her productivity at
work, her mindfulness exercise outcomes might help her notice an opportunity to take
the lead on a project. If, on the other hand, her mind is occupied with the future or
past, such as worrying about whether or not she’ll still have her job in six months or
mentally criticizing a comment she made in a staff meeting several minutes earlier, she
may not fully apprehend opportunities for committed action as they arise in the
moment.
8
Our minds are often focused on the past and the future, and this isn’t necessarily
problematic. In fact, it can be quite helpful to make plans for a trip to the grocery store
later in the day, for a vacation that’s months away, or for retirement potentially decades
in the future. Likewise, reminiscing about the past may be enjoyable, and analyzing past
behavior might reduce the chances of repeating a mistake. Still, because we can only
carry out committed actions now—in the present moment—excessive focus on a feared
future or a verbally constructed and evaluated past can interfere with attention to envi-
ronmental contingencies in the present moment. For example, the chronic worry about
the future typical of generalized anxiety disorder is associated with increased nervous
activity and procrastination, and decreased problem solving and engagement in activi-
ties that are goal-directed or otherwise desirable (Roemer & Orsillo, 2002).
Self-as-Context
Self-as-context, also sometimes called self-as-perspective or the observing self, refers to
a sense of the self as being the locus from which events are experienced and observa-
tions are made. Put another way, the self is a context for verbal knowing, rather than
the content of what is known (Hayes, Luoma, Bond, Masuda, & Lillis, 2006). The idea
that language leads to a sense of self as a locus or perspective is central to ACT, and
there is evidence that this sense of self is important to understanding others and culti-
vating empathy.
The word “context” refers to circumstances that form a setting for an event, or a
place where things occur. A context holds content, while not actually being the content.
When you look at a bowl of oatmeal, the bowl is the context for what it contains. The
bowl is not the oatmeal. The term “self-as-context” implies that the self can be viewed
as a place where events and things happen, such as feelings and sensations. Being able
to come into contact with the self-as-context helps you view your own feelings and
sensations as things, and to not identify those private events as who you are. This char-
acteristic of being separate from your content helps prevent you from identifying with
thoughts and emotions that might impede committed actions.
Contacting this sense of self is more likely to come from experiential learning
rather than verbal learning because as soon as you start to label the self, it is just more
content. It also accounts for why self-as-context is immensely difficult to talk about!
This explains why self-as-context is often described as a transcendent sense of self: it
transcends verbal discussion. Self-as-context is an important component of the ACT
model because from this perspective, we can be aware of our ongoing experiences
without attachment to them, and this awareness facilitates acceptance and defusion.
ACT therapists build this sense of self through metaphors, mindfulness practices, and
guided experiential exercises in which clients are invited to observe memories, feelings,
sensations, and thoughts, and then to notice who is noticing those experiences. For
9
instance, a client might notice a feeling of anger during a session. The ACT therapist
could then invite the client to notice who is having that feeling of anger. This kind of
noticing sets up a bit of distance between the self and the emotion, and can depotenti-
ate problematic behavior that is provoked by anger.
In ACT, self-as-context is contrasted with two other senses of self: self-as-content
and self-as-process. The self-as-content (also known as the conceptualized self) comprises
verbal content and encompasses many of the labels we use to talk about ourselves, such
as “I have two sisters,” “I am a therapist,” and “I come from California.” Self-as-content
does have some utility, particularly for allowing us to communicate with others. When
you tell someone that you come from California, you might be about to generate inter-
esting conversation or explain why you have certain habits or attitudes. The content of
your life experiences can help you connect with other people, and it can lead to other
important outcomes. For instance, when a person says, “I am a therapist” in certain
situations, another person might offer him paid employment in her clinic. Describing
your self-as-content is an important social skill. However, it can also be harmful, as
when people become fused with negative self-evaluations such as “I’m a loser” or “No
one likes me” and equate themselves with that content. When this occurs, an ACT
therapist would help clients distance themselves from such evaluations, and can do so
by having a client experience a self-as-context exercise.
The third key sense of self in ACT is the self-as-process. The word process refers to
a series of actions or changes over time. Self-as-process refers to the series of actions the
person is engaged in and the changing experiences the person is having. Self-as-process
is similar to ongoing self-awareness, or noticing what you are experiencing in the
moment. For example, being able to say “I am sitting in this chair,” or “I am reading this
book,” demonstrates contact with the self-as-process. The clinically relevant issue
comes up with the self-as-process when the client says, “I feel anxious,” or “I’m stressing
out about these compulsive urges.” Teaching the client to contact the self-as-context
through mindfulness or experiential exercises can help the client gain some perspective
about the ongoing emotional processes he is having. This could reduce the influence of
such self-as-process language, and help the client engage in valued behavior even in the
presence of his anxiety, stress, or urges.
Self-as-
context facilitates committed action because it increases awareness of
ongoing experiences without attachment to accompanying verbal content, such as
judgments and evaluations about the self. Contacting the self-as-context also promotes
acceptance and defusion. For another example, consider an alcoholic client who’s
flooded with negative thoughts about herself and her ability to remain abstinent from
alcohol whenever she attempts to stop drinking. If she can develop a stronger sense of
self-as-context, she can more effectively manage urges to drink by noticing that although
she has urges to drink and negative judgments about herself, a more fundamental part
of herself isn’t defined by her urges or self-judgments.
10
Values
Values are often described as chosen life directions. Hayes and colleagues describe
values as “chosen qualities of purposive action that can never be obtained as an object
but can be instantiated moment by moment” (2006, p. 8). As part of values clarifica-
tion, ACT therapists ask clients questions such as “What do you want your life to be
about?” or “What is important to you?”
Values help set up the motivation to accomplish certain goals. Once you have
articulated what makes life meaningful, you can develop objectives to accomplish to
make sure you are living in a valued direction. For instance, when a person clarifies
that he cares about making the world more beautiful, then these aesthetic values might
influence him to plant a flower garden. He can actually complete the goal of growing
daffodils in his front yard. When that goal is finished, he can continue to engage in
other behaviors related to the value of making the world a more beautiful place. Values
do not get “completed.” To consider the distinction in a clinical context, a value might
be “extending compassion toward others,” whereas goals that instantiate this value
might be “acting with forgiveness toward my son next week at Thanksgiving dinner,”
“volunteering at my temple,” or “practicing loving-kindness meditation.”
The distinction between goals and values is important clinically because although
goals can be set and attained in the service of values, goals often highlight something
that’s considered to be missing from one’s life. By their very definition, goals represent
what we don’t yet have and want to attain. In contrast, values are linked to larger pat-
terns of action, and we can always act in the service of a value even while we haven’t
yet achieved related goals. In other words, although a goal of losing ten pounds, making
more friends, or raising $5,000 for a charity may or may not be attainable in the near
future, behaviors in the service of related values (such as taking care of one’s physical
health, being a good friend, or helping others) are always possible in the present
moment. For example, the person with the goal of losing ten pounds can choose to eat
a salad instead of pizza, or opt to go for a walk instead of watching television. These
behaviors won’t instantly result in substantial weight loss, but they are immediately
actionable choices in the service of taking care of one’s health.
Importantly, values are personal and freely chosen by the individual. Therefore,
ACT clinicians help clients clarify their values without insinuating what those values
should be. However, therapists may sometimes point out that all behavior is in the
service of something; whether doing so with or without self-awareness, clients are
always metaphorically moving in a direction.
Here’s an example. Consider a client who’s enrolled in college and says she values
learning, but she belies that with her actions. She set a goal of earning good grades, yet
is dismayed by her poor performance. The problem is that on a near-daily basis, she
smokes marijuana within an hour of waking up and gets high again in the evening after
her classes. She seldom studies, and she spends most evenings watching television or
11
playing video games with her boyfriend. An ACT therapist might ask question such as,
“What is smoking marijuana in the service of?” and “What meaning are you getting
from playing video games?” The clinician may ask, “What are you valuing in your
actions?” When it comes to values, the old adage that actions speak louder than words
is apt, and the client’s behavior isn’t consistent with valuing learning.
At this juncture, the clinician might engage the client in values clarification. The
client might come to realize that perhaps she doesn’t value learning, but she just said
that because the people in her life have been pushing her to go to college. Maybe pleas-
ing others, such as her boyfriend, is a more important value to her than learning.
Alternatively, the clinician might consider this client’s behavior in terms of other ACT
processes. For example, perhaps she’s fused with thoughts such as I’m stupid or I can’t do
this, which show up whenever she starts to study, or she might be avoiding an aversive
state, such as boredom or anxiety, when faced with reading a dense textbook. The
therapist might also explore the client’s substance use with her to see whether smoking
marijuana is interfering with learning or presents a barrier to committed action.
In values work, the aim of ACT therapists is to help clients articulate their own
values in order to identify behaviors that are consistent with what they care about. In
other words, clarifying values leads to more committed action. This work also involves
helping clients identify barriers to valued action—circumstances and behaviors that
are inconsistent with their stated values or that hinder living in accordance with their
values. Clearly, values are related to committed action, and we’ll discuss this further
throughout the book. For now, we’ll simply say that committed actions are an impor-
tant and observable component of values, given that they are the demonstrable execu-
tion of values.
Context Influences Committed Action

After discussing all six of the ACT processes in the hexagon model, let’s return to com-
mitted action. At first glance, committed action can appear to be the simplest of ACT’s
core processes to understand and apply, since it’s usually more easily quantifiable and
observable than the other processes. This is true in the sense that committed actions
are often overt behaviors that are easily counted, tracked, or otherwise measured.
However, although the task of measuring the frequency or intensity of a behavior may
be simple, the ACT therapist is not simply focused on the form or occurrence of a per-
son’s behavior. The ACT therapist really wants to investigate the function of the behav-
ior. ACT is a functional intervention and therefore is looking not just at what the
person is doing, but why he is doing it. Committed action is not just about the presence
of behavior, but it is about the function of that behavior in the current context for that
individual. ACT is a functional contextual approach, and therefore the function of
behaviors, rather than their form, is what’s most important. We’ll discuss functional
12
contextualism in the next chapter, but for now, keep in mind that any committed
action should be considered in the context of all of the other processes.
Let’s take a look at a concrete example of how committed action is influenced by
many different functions given the context of the behavior. Taylor has committed to
run 30 minutes per day and reports that this behavior is in the service of her value of
improving and maintaining her health. It’s a relatively easy matter to ask her to record
her running behavior. She could even use video documentation, a wearable device, or
reports from an accountability partner to create a more objective record of her adher-
ence. However, in the ACT model, the clinician needs to do more than merely measure
behavior. Although measurement is important, it often doesn’t tell the whole story. The
clinician needs to see how this commitment will function given the context of the cli-
ent’s life. As a thought exercise, consider how workable or effective Taylor’s committed
action would be in each of these scenarios:
• She often reports that she wants to improve her health, and she is also over-
weight, abuses alcohol, and smokes half a pack of cigarettes per day.
• She’s morbidly obese.
• She’s in treatment because she’s had frequent panic attacks ever since she lost
her job three months ago, and her primary treatment goals are to improve her
ability to cope with anxiety, improve her social skills, and gain occupational
skills that will aid her in finding a new job.
• She’s a triathlete and typically runs 50 miles a week.
• She’s 62 years old and hasn’t walked more than a mile at a time in over five
years.
• She made the commitment a few days after her sister and chief rival made the
same commitment.
• She says she’s upset because her husband told her that she looks fat and she
believes runners are skinny.
• She has a history of setting goals she can’t achieve.
• She also recently committed to studying 60 minutes per day and attending
tutoring sessions twice a week in the service of getting past academic
probation.
Committed action must be considered in the context of the client’s history, pre-
senting complaint, and goals and values. And in addition to considering this context
when clients make a commitment or set a goal, therapists must also consider the context
when evaluating the outcome, while keeping in mind that increased psychological
13
flexibility is an overarching goal. So now, to extend this exercise, consider how you
would evaluate Taylor’s actions during the first week in each of the following contexts:
• Her academic advisor told her that she must make several revisions to her
thesis before defending it at the end of the week, and she told her advisor she
didn’t have time because she committed to run every day.
• She didn’t run after her physician advised her that she should have a complete
physical examination before beginning an exercise program.
• She ran 30 minutes on one day, skipped the next five days, and ran for three
hours on the seventh day.
• She reports that meeting her goal was easy, because before making the com-
mitment, she usually ran for 60 minutes per day.
• She tells you she didn’t run 30 minutes the day after she came down with the
flu.
• She tells you that she didn’t run 30 minutes per day because she felt too
depressed.
• She says that even though she was late to work three times because of her early-
morning running schedule, she’s pleased to report that she did indeed keep her
commitment to run 30 minutes each day of the week.
• She’s confused about whether or not she kept her commitment, because she
wasn’t sure if it was okay that she didn’t run one day, after she unexpectedly
had to work late, and she made up for it by running for 45 minutes the next two
days.
There are no easy right or wrong answers to the question “Did Taylor fail in execut-
ing her committed action?” On the one hand, the material in the preceding list might
provide enough information to make it easy to answer the question. On the other hand,
because we must always consider committed actions in context, there can be multiple
ways of looking at the same behavior. Committed action is not quite so simple when
considered in the context of the full ACT model and the full lives, competing values,
and multiple committed actions most people have.
Summary
In this chapter, we’ve provided an introduction to committed action, a core ACT
process when clients engage in clinically relevant behavior change. The other five ACT
14
processes—acceptance, defusion, contact with the present moment, self-as-context,

and values— were briefly described, and their relationship to committed action
explored. In chapter 2, we will explore the definition of committed action, explain why
ACT focuses on behavior, and begin to explore how values and committed action are
related.
Suggested Readings
Bach, P. A., & Moran, D. J. (2008). ACT in practice: Case conceptualization in acceptance
and commitment therapy. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger.
Batten, S. V. (2011). Essentials of acceptance and commitment therapy. London: Sage.
Harris, R. (2009). ACT made simple: An easy-to-read primer on acceptance and commit-
ment therapy. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger.
Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D., & Wilson, K. G. (1999). Acceptance and commitment
therapy: An experiential approach to behavior change. NY: Guilford.
Luoma, J., Hayes, S. C., & Walser, R. D. (2007). Learning ACT: An acceptance and com-
mitment therapy skills-training manual for therapists. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger.
15
CHAPTER 2
Perspectives on Commitment
I
n this chapter, we dive deep into the definition of “commitment,” then turn to why
committed action is so important in the ACT model. Indeed, as mentioned in
chapter 1, behavior change is central to ACT, in large part because of the ways in
which values and committed action are inextricably intertwined, so we discuss that
connection at length in this chapter. Another facet of committed action that makes it
central to ACT, and many other therapies, is that behavior is an overt and measurable
indicator of psychological processes, so in this chapter we also discuss how to measure
behavioral change, in part by zeroing in on specific aspects of behavior.
General Perspectives on Commitment

The word commit comes from the Latin roots com and mittere, which mean “with” and
“send or give over.” So, from an etymological point of view, “committing” in an applied
behavioral science context means giving oneself over to a goal or a plan. The word
“commit” has many connotations. For example, graduate students in the behavioral
sciences might have to commit to memory the diagnostic criteria for many mental
health disorders, and then when they start working with clients, they might work to
prevent people who are antisocial from committing a crime. The same graduate student
might diagnose someone with a serious mental illness, in which case the client may be
committed to a psychiatric ward.
In some usages of the word, “commit” simply means “to pledge or promise,” and in
others it means “to do.” Colloquially (and regrettably), the word “commit” subsumes
both of these disparate meanings. Of course, promising to act a certain way and mea-
surably doing the action are two different things, and ACT therapists often have to
highlight this distinction for clients. In this chapter, we’ll sharpen the definition of the
phrase “committed action” to ensure that it’s used in therapy and case conceptualiza-
tion with precision and to target measurable behavior.
Elucidating the difference between talking and doing is an ancient endeavor. Facta
non verba, or “actions not words,” is a Latin motto that’s been handed down through
the centuries—and adopted by many organizations dedicated to doing what they say
they’re going to do. Going much further back, with the advent of language it became
necessary to guide people to discriminate between what they say and what they do.
Often, such guidance includes the suggestion that people should take care to do what
they say they will, and to only say what they will actually do.
Take a moment to imagine prehistoric times when our ancestors didn’t yet engage
in complex symbolic language. They acquired important consequences related to sur-
vival (such as food and shelter) from direct contingencies in their social group as a
result of competition and cooperation responses. With the advent of verbal behavior
(the ability to engage in relational responses), our ancestors could say things (probably
in the form of monosyllabic grunts) that would lead to acquisition of food and shelter.
As that repertoire developed over time, humans could pledge to do something, get
reinforcers from other members of the social group for their pledge, but then not follow
through on the action they pledged to do. For instance, a beta male in a tribe might
pledge to protect the community if invaders attacked. Because of his verbal pledge, he
would be well taken care of by the tribe. The immediate reinforcers for pledging might
include food, shelter, camaraderie, and sex, among other things. In this way, the verbal
behavior of promising to do something was immediately reinforced. The relations the
beta male engaged in, “I” in relation with “will protect,” led others to give him impor-
tant appetitive, or naturally desired, stimuli. However, when invaders actually attack,
the direct contingencies related to anxiety and the threat of harm or death might lead
the beta male to run away or otherwise avoid the situation and not protect the group.
Given this kind of scenario, we can imagine that early language, while abundantly
useful, also had a downside, at least for those who didn’t receive the pledged benefits.
For this reason, since the dawn of language human communities have tended to be
watchful about the correspondence between words and actions. Indeed, some of the
earliest human literature, such as the Maxims of Ptahhotep (circa 2400 BCE), and the
Code of Hammurabi (circa 1754 BCE) provided advice on how to use language pru-
dently and responsibly.
Throughout the ages, scholars and visionaries have talked about the problem of
saying one thing and doing another, observing that individuals perform better for their
community and support their own reputation when they keep their word. Even today,
entire branches of law (contract law, for example) are dedicated to codifying and regu-
lating verbal commitments, enforcing them, and punishing failures to adhere to them.
This ongoing context underscores the need to identify ways of facilitating commit-
ment. Even now, in the twenty-first century, people continue to struggle to do what
they say they’re going to do. Sometimes people purposefully lie or make promises they
don’t adhere to. They create verbal relations that have the potential to govern behavior
through the transformation of stimulus functions, but these relations don’t always have
that effect.
18
Perspectives on Commitment
The way we discuss commitment in ACT helps enlighten people about the connec-
tions between words and deeds, or between relational responding and overt responding.
(We will discuss more about relational responding in the relational frame theory section
in the next chapter.) Acceptance and commitment therapy aims to illuminate the
tricky relationship between indirect contingencies that arise from verbal behavior, such
as the social consequences of making a pledge, and direct contingencies that come
from the natural environment as people execute the pledged behavior. Understanding
this relationship can help people engage in committed action that’s both more effective
and more contextually sensitive.
The ACT Perspective on Committed Action

Acceptance and commitment therapy is an empirically supported cognitive behavioral
psychotherapy designed to increase psychological flexibility through mindfulness and
behavior change strategies. ACT’s core process of committed action is somewhat
unusual because it relies on evidence-based behavior change strategies, including strat-
egies from other treatment models, with the rest of the ACT model contributing to
making such changes in a mindful manner. Therefore, ACT can be used as a stand-
alone treatment or to supplement other psychotherapeutic approaches, creating a
context for viewing treatment plans as committed actions supported by acceptance,
defusion, self-as-context, values, and contacting the present moment.
Acceptance and commitment therapy was developed as an outgrowth of the
science of behavior analysis and was nurtured in the behavior therapy community, so
ACT has a deep dedication to influencing people’s behavior in functional ways. The
allegiance to behavior change in therapy isn’t simply born out of adherence to scientific
tradition; rather, it is key, because psychotherapy literature demonstrates that behav-
ioral interventions help clients reach important clinical goals. ACT therapists aim to
help clients engage in committed actions in order to reduce suffering and improve
quality of living, and this necessarily entails changing behavior in measurable ways.
Why Focus on Behavior?

In ACT, the process of committed action is the lens used for focusing on clinically
relevant behaviors. ACT was founded within contextual behavioral science, which
“seeks the development of basic and applied scientific concepts and methods that are
useful in predicting-and-influencing the contextually embedded actions of whole organ-
isms…with precision, scope, and depth…to create a behavioral science more adequate
to the challenges of the human condition” (Hayes, Barnes-Holmes, & Wilson, 2012, p.
2, italics added). This entire contextual behavioral science approach is brought to bear
19
on working with clients to increase their engagement in functional behaviors through

committed action.
Because we are discussing ACT as an applied science, let’s take a closer look at
what, specifically, the science analyzes. Any time you engage in a scientific endeavor,
you should be able to articulate exactly what you’re studying. In other words, you should
be able to declare your unit of analysis. For instance, in the science of microbiology, a
scientist might declare that she’s studying the cell. Her unit of analysis is the cell, and
she therefore focuses her efforts, time, and grant money on studying certain aspects of
the cell. That doesn’t mean it’s the “right” thing to study, the better scientific endeavor,
or the only appropriate unit of analysis. She’s simply choosing to study that particular
facet of the known universe.
Within contextual behavioral science, the unit of analysis is the act-in-context.
ACT therapists and contextual behavioral scientists choose to focus their efforts on
this specific aspect of the known universe: “the behavior of organisms interacting in
and with a context, considered both historically and situationally” (Hayes, Barnes-
Holmes, et al., 2012, p. 3). Again, this is not to say that behavior or the act-in-context
is the “right” thing to study or the most meaningful scientific endeavor. Other psycho-
logical scientists might study the brain, neurochemicals, or the ego. However, when
using ACT, which is based in contextual behavioral science, we choose to study the
act-in-context.
Before moving forward, please realize that in the term “act-in-context,” the hyphens
are actually very important. The hyphens make clear that contextual behavioral scien-
tists don’t separate human actions from the contexts in which they occur. So, while
reading this book, keep in mind that committed action always happens in a context.
ACT doesn’t simply influence people to change their behavior; it aims to help them
engage in certain behaviors in the appropriate environments and in the service of
chosen values. We’ll discuss this further in chapter 3, but for now, please realize that in
ACT, the application of behavioral science is always done with contextual support and
for a purpose.
In general, mental health practitioners see the benefit of behavior change as an aim
and outcome of therapy. The World Health Organization defines mental health as “a
state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope
with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make
a contribution to her or his community” (World Health Organization, 2014). Although
that definition is less precise than typical behavioral science fare, it highlights that
people’s actions contribute to their state of mental health (as in “work productively,”
and “make a contribution”).
Another important reason ACT therapists focus on behavior change is simply due
to practical issues. Clients and third-party payers (especially in the economy of the early
twenty-first century) want to see measurable, objective change in behavior. After a few
sessions of psychotherapy, consumers and payers would like evidence that the client’s
20
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
After his defeat, Mehanna crossed the Orontes at the north of Hama,
and encamped near Homs, to await the Osmanlis and return with
them to take his revenge. In fact, on the fifth day, the shepherds ran
crying that the Turks headed by Nasser were taking possession of
the flocks. Immediately our warriors flew in pursuit, and overtook
them, when a more terrible battle than the first was fought, during
which the enemy drove off a great part of our cattle towards his
camp. The advantage remained with our men, who carried off a
considerable spoil from the Turks; but the loss of our flocks was
considerable. We had to regret the loss of only twelve men, but
amongst them was the nephew of the Drayhy, Ali, whose death was
universally lamented. His uncle remained three days without eating;
and swore by Almighty God that he would kill Nasser, to revenge the
death of Ali.
Attacks were taking place every day; the Osmanlis of Damascus,
Homs, and Hama were in a state of consternation, and attempted to
collect together the Arabs of Horam and Idumea. Several tribes of
the desert arrived, some to reinforce the Drayhy, others Mehanna.
No caravan could pass from one city to another; the advantages
were almost all on the side of the Drayhy. One day, by a singular
coincidence, Fares took from us a hundred and twenty camels that
were pasturing two leagues from the tents; while at the same instant
Zaher carried off the like number of theirs. This simultaneous
movement prevented either the one or the other from being pursued.
They also had time to secure their capture. But this war of reprisals
of cattle and plunder was about to assume a character of ferocity
and extermination. The signal for it was given by the Dallati Turks,
under the conduct of Nasser, who, having taken from the tribe of
Beni Kraleb two women and a girl, carried them to the village of
Zany-el-Abedin. Nasser gave the women to the soldiers; and
assigned to the aga the young girl, who in the middle of the night
revenged her honour by poniarding the Turk in his sleep. Her
vigorous arm pierced his heart and left him dead; and then escaping
without noise, she rejoined her tribe, and spread indignation and
rage among the Bedouins, who swore to die or slay Nasser, and to
fill vessels with his blood, to distribute among the tribes as a
memorial of their vengeance.
This penalty was not long postponed; an engagement having taken
place between a party commanded by Zaher, and another under the
orders of Nasser, the two chiefs, whose hatred was mutual, sought
each other out, and fought together with fury. The Bedouins
remained spectators of the battle between these warriors, equal in
valour and skill. The contest was long and terrible: at length their
tired horses no longer able promptly to obey the motions of their
riders, Nasser received the thrust of Zaher’s lance, which pierced
him through and through: he fell; his men ran away, or gave up their
horses:[I] Zaher cut the body of Nasser to pieces, put it in a couffe
(wicker basket), and sent it to Mehanna’s camp by a prisoner, whose
nose he cut off. He then returned to his tribe exulting in his revenge.
Mehanna sent to ask aid of the Bedouins of Chamma, of Neggde,
and of the Wahabees: they promised to come to his support the
following year, the time being then come for their return to the East.
As we were encamped very near Corietain, I proposed to go and
fetch Sheik Ibrahim. The Drayhy accepted my offer with eagerness,
and gave me a strong escort. I cannot describe the happiness I felt
at again seeing M. Lascaris, who received me with great warmth of
heart;—as for me, I embraced him as my father, for I had never
known mine, who died in my early infancy. I spent the night in
relating to him all that had passed. The next day, taking leave of our
friends, the curate Moussi and Sheik Selim, I took away Sheik
Ibrahim, who was received with the highest distinction by the Drayhy.
A grand feast of camel’s flesh was prepared, which I found less
disagreeable than the first time, for I was beginning to be
accustomed to the food of the Bedouins. The camels intended for
killing are as white as snow, and are never either worked or fatigued;
the meat is red and very fat. The female gives great abundance of
milk; the Bedouins drink it continually, and give the rest to their
horses of pedigree, which greatly strengthens them: in this way they
consume all the milk, as it is not suited to make into butter. We came
at last to think the taste preferable to that of goat’s or sheep’s milk.
An attack of the Wahabees a short time after the arrival of M.
Lascaris cost the Drayhy some horsemen and much cattle. The next
day Sheik Ibrahim took me aside and said, “I am pleased with the
Drayhy; he is just the man I want; but it is indispensable that he
should become the chief of all the Bedouins from Aleppo to the
frontiers of India. It is to you I look to arrange the matter, by
friendship, by threats, or by artifice; this must be effected.” “You are
imposing a difficult undertaking,” I replied. “Every tribe has its chief;
they are enemies of dependence, and never have they submitted to
any yoke. I fear, if you should engage in any such project, that
something disastrous will happen to you.” “Still it must absolutely be
done,” replied M. Lascaris; “exert all your capacity; without that we
shall not succeed.”
I reflected a long time upon the best means of setting about the
business. The first point was to inspire the Bedouins with a high idea
of Sheik Ibrahim; and to effect this, as they are superstitious and
credulous to excess, we got up a few chemical experiments with
phosphorus and fulminating powder, hoping to astonish them.
Accordingly, at night, when the chiefs of the tribe were met together
under the tent of the Drayhy, Sheik Ibrahim, with a majestic air and
admirable dexterity, produced effects that struck them with surprise
and amazement. From that moment he appeared to them a sorcerer,
a magician, or rather a divinity.
The next day the Drayhy called me and said, “Oh, Abdallah! your
master is a god!” “No,” replied I, “but rather a prophet: what you
witnessed yesterday is nothing compared to the power he has
acquired by his profound science; he is the remarkable man of the
age. Learn that, if he would, he is capable of making you king of all
the Bedouins: he discerned that the comet which appeared some
time ago was your star, that is, is superior to that of the other Arabs,
and that if you will follow his advice in every point, you will become
all-powerful.” This idea pleased him extremely. The desire of
command and of glory sprang up with violence in his breast; and, by
a coincidence truly extraordinary, I had divined the object of his
superstition, for he exclaimed, “Oh, Abdallah, I see that you speak
truth, and that your master is really a prophet. I had a dream some
time ago, in which some fire, separating from a comet, fell upon my
tent and consumed it, and I took this fire in my hand and it did not
burn me. That comet surely was my star.” He then called his wife,
and begged her to relate herself the dream as he had told it her on
awaking. I availed myself of the circumstance to confirm still more
effectually the superiority of Sheik Ibrahim, and the Drayhy promised
me to follow all his advice for the future. M. Lascaris, delighted at this
fortunate commencement, selected from his goods a handsome
present, to give to the Drayhy, who accepted it with the greatest
pleasure, and perceived in it a proof that it was not to enrich
ourselves that we were endeavouring to counsel him. From that time
he made us eat with his wife and daughters-in-law, in the interior of
their tent, instead of eating with strangers in the rabha. His wife, a
descendant of a great family, and sister of a minister of Ebn Sihoud,
is named Sugar: she enjoys a high reputation for courage and
generosity.
Whilst we were establishing our influence over the Drayhy, a minor
enemy was working in the shade to destroy our hopes and ruin us.
There is in every tribe a pedler, who sells to the women various
articles he brings from Damascus. The one belonging to our tribe,
whose name was Absi, filled besides the office of scribe to the
Drayhy; but ever since our arrival he had lost both his office and his
custom. He naturally felt a great antipathy for us, and sought every
possible means to calumniate us before the Bedouins, beginning
with the women, whom he persuaded that we were magicians; that
we wanted to carry off their daughters into a far country, and throw a
spell round the women that they might have no more children; that
thus the race of the Bedouins would become extinct, and that Frank
conquerors would come and take possession of the country. We
soon felt the effects of his calumnies, without knowing their cause.
The girls fled at our approach; the women called us opprobrious
names; the elderly ones even threatened us. Amongst an ignorant
and credulous people, where the women possess great influence,
such a danger might have become serious. At last we found out
these intrigues of Absi, and acquainted the Drayhy with them, who
would have put him to death on the spot. We had great difficulty in
getting him only dismissed from the tribe, which in fact only gave him
further opportunity to extend his malice. A village called Mohadan,
hitherto tributary to Mehanna, had become so to the Drayhy since
his victories. This chief having demanded a thousand piastres that
were due to him, the inhabitants, at the instigation of Absi,
maltreated the Emir’s messenger, who punished them by carrying off
their flocks. Absi persuaded the village chiefs to come with him to
Damascus, and declare to the Capidji Bashi that two Frank spies
had gained the confidence of the Drayhy, had made him commit all
kinds of injustice, and were endeavouring to make him withdraw the
Bedouins from their alliance with the Osmanlis. This denunciation
was made before the Vizier Solyman Pacha, who sent a chokedar to
the Drayhy, with a threatening letter, concluding with ordering him to
deliver up the two infidels to his officer, that they might be led in
chains to Damascus, where their public execution would operate as
an example.
The Drayhy, enraged at the insolence of this letter, said to the
Mussulman officer, “By Him who has raised the heavens, and
lowered the earth, if thou wert not beneath my tent, I would cut off
thy head, and tie it to my horse’s tail; and thus should he bear my
answer to your vizier. As to the two strangers who are with me, I
shall never deliver them up while I live. If he wants them, let him
come and take them by the power of his sword!”
I then took the Drayhy aside, and entreated him to compose himself,
and leave it to me to settle the affair.
I knew that M. Lascaris was intimately connected with Solyman
Pacha, and that a letter from him would produce an effect that the
Drayhy little expected. M. Lascaris, whilst with the French expedition
in Egypt, had married a Georgian, brought with the women of Murad
Bey, who proved to be cousin to Solyman Pacha. Subsequently he
had occasion to go to Acre; his wife made known her relationship to
the pacha, and was loaded by him with kindness and presents, as
well as her husband.
M. Lascaris therefore wrote to Solyman Pacha, informing him that
the pretended spies were no other than himself and his dragoman,
Fatalla Sayeghir; that all that had been said against the Drayhy was
false; that it was, on the contrary, for the interest of the Porte to
cultivate his friendship, and to favour his preponderance over the
other Bedouins. The chokedar, who was trembling for his life,
hastened to bear the letter to Damascus, and returned in two days
with a most friendly answer to Sheik Ibrahim, and another for the
Drayhy, of which these are the contents.—After many compliments
to the emir, he adds: “We have received a letter from our dear friend,
the great Sheik Ibrahim, which destroys the calumnies of your
enemies, and gives most satisfactory testimony regarding you. Your
wisdom is made known to us. Henceforward we authorize you to
command in the desert, according to your good pleasure. From us
you shall receive only acts of friendship. We rate you above your
equals. We commend to you our well-beloved Sheik Ibrahim, and
Abdallah: their satisfaction will increase our regard for you,” &c. The
Drayhy and other chiefs were greatly astonished at the great credit
of Sheik Ibrahim with the pacha. This incident crowned their
consideration towards us.
I have said that the Drayhy was surnamed the Exterminater of the
Turks; I inquired the origin of this epithet. This is what Sheik Abdallah
told me. The Drayhy having once plundered a caravan that was
going from Damascus to Bagdad, the pacha was extremely enraged;
but not daring openly to avenge himself, dissembled, according to
the practice of the Turks, and induced him by fair promises to come
to Bagdad. The Drayhy, frank and loyal, suspected no treachery, and
went to the pacha with his ordinary train of ten horsemen. He was
immediately seized, bound, thrown into a dungeon, and threatened
with the loss of his head, if he did not pay for his ransom a thousand
purses, (a million piastres,) five thousand sheep, twenty mares of the
kahillan breed, and twenty dromedaries. The Drayhy, leaving his son
as hostage, went to raise this enormous ransom; and as soon as he
had discharged it, he resolved on taking his revenge. The caravans
and the villages were plundered; and Bagdad was itself blockaded.
The pacha, having collected his troops, came out with an army of
thirty thousand men and some pieces of cannon against the Drayhy,
who, supported by the allied tribes, gave him battle, which lasted
three days; but finding that he was gaining no decisive advantage,
retired silently in the night, turned the pacha’s army, and placing
himself between it and Bagdad, attacked it unexpectedly on several
points at the same time. Surprised by night, and on the quarter which
was without defence, a panic seized the enemy’s camp. The
confusion became general among the Osmanlis; and the Drayhy
made a great slaughter of them, remaining master of an immense
booty. The pacha escaped alone and with difficulty, and shut himself
up in Bagdad. This exploit spread such terror among the inhabitants,
that even after the peace, his name continued an object of dread.
Abdallah recounted many other achievements of the Drayhy, and
ended with saying that he loved grandeur and difficulties, and wished
to subject all to his dominion.
These were precisely the qualities that Sheik Ibrahim desired to find
in him: he therefore devoted himself more and more to the project of
making him master of all the other tribes; but the Wahabees were
formidable adversaries, who a few days afterwards fell upon the tribe
Would Ali, and spread themselves over the desert to force the
Bedouins to pay them a tenth. Alarmed at the approach of these
terrible warriors, many tribes were about to submit, when Sheik
Ibrahim persuaded the Drayhy that it was for his own honour to take
the field, and declare himself protector of the oppressed.
Encouraged by his example, all the tribes, with the exception of that
of El Hassnnée, and Beni Sakhrer, made alliance with him to resist
the Wahabees. The Drayhy marched with an army of five thousand
horse, and two thousand mardouffs. We were ten days without
receiving any intelligence. The anxiety in the camp was excessive;
symptoms of dissatisfaction against us were becoming apparent, for
being the instigators of the perilous expedition; our lives might
possibly have paid the penalty of our temerity, if the uncertainty had
lasted much longer. On the next day, at noon, a horseman arrived at
full speed, waving his white belt at the end of his lance, and shouting
aloud, “God has given us the victory!” Sheik Ibrahim gave
magnificent presents to the bearer of this good news, which relieved
the tribe from serious alarm, and ourselves from no small peril.
Shouting and dancing round lighted fires, cattle slain, and
preparations for a festival to welcome the warriors, set the camp in
an unusual agitation; and all this active arrangement executed by the
women, presented a most original spectacle. At night, all the camp
went forth to meet the victorious army, the dust they raised being
seen in the distance. As soon as we met, the cries were redoubled.
Jousting, racing, firing, and all possible demonstrations of joy,
accompanied us back to the camp. After our repast we obtained a
recital of the exploits of the warriors.
The Wahabees were commanded by a doughty negro, a half-
savage, whose name was Abu-Nocta. When he prepares for battle,
he takes off his turban and boots, draws up his sleeves to his
shoulders, and leaves his body almost naked, which is of prodigious
size and muscular strength. His head and chin, never being shaved,
are overshadowed by a bushy head of hair and black beard, which
cover his entire face, his eyes gleaming beneath the shade. His
whole body, too, is hairy, and affords a sight as strange as it is
frightful. The Drayhy came up to him three days from Palmyra, at a
spot called Heroualma. The battle was most obstinate on both sides,
but ended in the flight of Abu-Nocta, who removed to the country of
Neggde, leaving two hundred slain on the field of battle. The Drayhy
searched out among the spoils all that had been taken from the tribe
Would Ali, and restored it. This act of generosity still further attached
to him the affection of the other tribes, who were coming daily to put
themselves under his protection. The report of this victory gained
over the terrible Abu-Nocta was disseminated everywhere. Solyman
Pacha sent the conqueror a pelisse of honour, and a magnificent
sabre, with his congratulations. Soon after this exploit we encamped
on the frontiers of Horan.
One day, a Turkish mollah arrived at the Drayhy’s; he wore the large
green turban that distinguishes the descendants of Mahomet, a
white flowing robe, his eyes blackened, and an enormous beard; he
wore also several rows of chaplets, and an inkstand in the form of a
dagger at his belt. He rode on an ass, and carried in his hand an
arrow. He was come to instil his fanaticism into the Bedouins, and
excite in them a great zeal for the religion of the Prophet, in order to
attach them to the cause of the Turks. The Bedouins are of great
simplicity of character, and remarkable for their frankness. They do
not understand differences of religion, and do not willingly allow them
to be spoken of. They are deists; they invoke the protection of God in
all the events of life, and refer to him their success or their failures
with humble resignation; but they have no ceremonies or obligatory
ritual, and make no distinction between the sects of Omar and of Ali,
which divide the East. They never inquired what was our religion. We
told them that we were Christians; their answer was, “All men are
equal in the sight of God, and are his creatures; we have no right to
inquire what is the creed of other men.” This discretion on their part
was much more favourable to our projects than the fanaticism of the
Turks; so that the arrival of the mollah gave some anxiety to Sheik
Ibrahim, who went to the tent of the Drayhy, where he found the
conference already begun, or rather the preaching, to which the
chiefs were listening with a dissatisfied air. As they all arose at our
entrance to salute us, the mollah inquired who we were, and having
learnt that we were Christians:—“It is forbidden,” said he, “by the
laws of God, to rise before infidels; you will be cursed for holding
intercourse with them; your wives will be illegitimate, and your
children bastards. Such is the decree of our lord, Mahomet, whose
name be for ever venerated!”
The Drayhy, without waiting for the end of his speech, got up in a
rage, seized him by the beard, threw him down, and drew his sabre;
Sheik Ibrahim sprang forward, withheld his arm, and conjured him to
moderate his anger: at length, the emir consented to cut off his
beard instead of his head, and drove him away with ignominy.
The Drayhy having attacked the tribe of Beni-Sakhrer, the only one
which still opposed him, beat it completely.
However, as the autumn was now come, we commenced our return
towards the east. As we approached Homs, the governor sent the
Drayhy forty camels loaded with corn, ten machlas, and a pelisse of
honour. Sheik Ibrahim addressed me in private and said, “We are
going into the desert; we have exhausted all our stock; what must we
do?” “Give me your orders,” I replied; “I will go secretly to Aleppo,
and get what we want, and I will engage not to make myself known
to my family.” It was agreed that I should rejoin the tribe at Zour; and
I went to Aleppo. I took up my station in a khan but little frequented,
and remote from all my acquaintances. I sent a stranger to the
correspondent of M. Lascaris to get five hundred tallaris. The
precaution was unnecessary, for with my long beard, my costume,
and my Bedouin accent, I ran no risk of being known; I proved this
sufficiently on purchasing some goods at the Bazaar. I met many of
my friends there, and amused myself with behaving rudely to them.
But to these moments of careless gaiety, painful ones succeeded; I
passed and repassed continually before the door of my house,
hoping to get a glimpse of my brother or my poor mother. My desire
of seeing her above all was so great that I was twenty times on the
point of breaking my word; but the conviction that she would not
again allow me to return to M. Lascaris restored my courage, and
after six days I was obliged to tear myself away from Aleppo, without
obtaining any news of my relatives.
I overtook the tribe on the banks of the Euphrates opposite Daival-
Chahar, where there are still some fine ruins of an ancient city. I
found the Bedouins engaged, before crossing the river, in selling
cattle, or changing them for goods with the pedlers from Aleppo.
They have no idea of the value of fictitious money; they will not
receive gold in payment, recognising nothing but silver tallaris. They
would rather pay too much, or not receive enough in change, than
admit of fractions. The merchants, aware of this foible, dexterously
profit by it. Besides the exchanges, the tribes sold to the amount of
twenty-five thousand tallaris; and every man put his money into his
sack of flour, that it might not sound on loading and unloading.
A tragical accident happened at the passage of the Euphrates. A
woman and two children, mounted on a camel, were carried down by
the current before it was possible to give them any assistance. We
found Mesopotamia covered with the tribes of Bagdad and Bassora.
Their chiefs came daily to congratulate the Drayhy on his victory, and
to make acquaintance with us, for the renown of Sheik Ibrahim had
reached them. They felt indebted to him for having counselled the
war against the Wahabees, whose rapacity and exactions were
become intolerable. Their king, Ebn-Sihoud, was accustomed to
send a mezakie to count the flocks of each individual, and to take the
tenth, always choosing the best: he then had the tents taken down,
from that of the sheik to that of the poorest wretch, to find his money,
of which they also exacted a tenth. He was still more odious to the
Bedouins, because in his extreme fanaticism, he exacted ablutions
and prayers five times a day, and punished with death those who
refused to submit. When he forced a tribe to make war for him,
instead of sharing the gains and the losses, he kept all the plunder,
and only left his allies to bewail their dead. And thus, by degrees, the
Bedouins were becoming the slaves of the Wahabees, for want of a
chief capable of making head against Ebn-Sihoud.
We encamped at a spot called Nain-el-Raz, three days from the
Euphrates. Here the Emir Fares el Harba, the chief of the tribe El
Harba, of the territory of Bassora, came to make an offensive and
defensive alliance with the Drayhy. When the chiefs have to discuss
any important affair, they quit the camp and hold their conference at
a distance; this is called dahra,—secret assembly. Sheik Ibrahim
having been called to the dahra, showed some mistrust of Fares,
fearing that he was a spy of the Wahabees. The Drayhy said to him,
“You judge of the Bedouins by the Osmanlis: know that the
characters of the two people are directly opposed—treason is
unknown among us.” After this declaration, all the sheiks present at
the council mutually pledged their word. Sheik Ibrahim took
advantage of this disposition to propose to them to conclude a treaty
in writing, to be signed and sealed by all those who would
successively enter into the alliance against Ebn-Sihoud. This was a
great step in the interest of Sheik Ibrahim, and I drew up the treaty in
the following terms:—
“In the name of the God of mercy, who by his might will help us
against traitors. We praise him for all his goodness, and return
thanks to him for having given us to distinguish good from evil—to
love liberty and to hate slavery; we acknowledge that he is the only
and Almighty God, alone to be adored.
“We declare that we are confederated by our own free will without
any constraint, that we are all sound in body and mind, and that we
have unanimously resolved to follow the advice of Sheik Ibrahim and
Abdallah el Katib, for the interest of our prosperity, of our glory, and
of our liberty. The articles of our treaty are:—
“1st. To separate ourselves from the Osmanlis.
“2d. To wage a war of extirpation against the Wahabees.
“3d. Never to speak upon the subject of religion.
“4th. To obey the orders of our brother, the great Drayhy, Ebn
Chahllan.
“5th. To oblige each sheik to answer for his tribe and to keep this
engagement secret.
“6th. To combine against those tribes who should not subscribe to it.
“7th. To march to the assistance of those who sign the present treaty,
and to combine against their enemies.
“8th. To punish with death those who should break this alliance.
“9th. To listen to no calumnies against Sheik Ibrahim and Abdallah.
“We the undersigned accept all the articles of this treaty; we will
maintain them in the name of God and of his prophets Mahomet and
Ali; declaring by these presents that we are determined to live and
die in this holy alliance.
“Dated, signed, and sealed, the 12th of
November, 1811.”
All who were present approved and signed it.
Some time afterwards, being encamped in the large and fine plain of
El Rané, the Drayhy sent couriers to the other tribes, to invite them
to sign this treaty. Several chiefs set their seals to it, and those who
had no seal fixed on it the impression of their finger. Among these
chiefs I noticed a young man who from the age of fifteen had
governed the tribe of El Ollama, which bears a character very
superior to those of the other Bedouins. They cultivate poetry, are
well informed, and in general very eloquent. This young sheik thus
related the origin of his tribe:—
A Bedouin of Bagdad was held in high reputation for sagacity. A man
one day came to him, saying:—“My wife disappeared four days ago;
I have sought her ever since in vain: I have three weeping children,
and I am in despair; assist me with your advice.” Aliaony consoled
the unfortunate man, recommended him to stay with his children,
and promised him to seek his wife for him, and bring her back dead
or alive. In collecting all sorts of intelligence upon the subject, he
learnt that the woman was remarkably beautiful; he himself had a
libertine son, who had also been some days absent: a ray of light
broke upon his mind—he mounted his dromedary and searched the
desert. He perceived from afar an assemblage of eagles, hastened
towards them, and found at the entrance of a grotto the dead body of
a woman. Examining the spot, he discovered the track of a camel,
and part of the trimming of a wallet: he brought away this dumb
witness and retraced his steps. On returning to his tent, he found his
son arrived: his torn wallet wanted the fatal trimming. Overwhelmed
by his father’s reproaches, the young man confessed his crime:
Aliaony cut off his head, sent for the husband, and said to him:—“My
son killed your wife—I have punished him and revenged you; I have
a daughter, and give her to you in marriage.” This trait of barbarous
justice enhanced the reputation of Aliaony: he was elected chief of
his tribe, which from his name assumed that of El Ollama, signifying
wise,—an appellation which the tribe has always justified.
As we approached Bagdad, our treaty daily received a number of
additional signatures.
After quitting El Rané, we encamped at Ain el Oussada, near the
river El Cabour. During our sojourn there, a courier despatched by
the Drayhy to the Sheik Giandal, chief of the tribe of Wualdi, having
been very ill received, returned, bearing an offensive message to the
Drayhy. His sons were desirous of taking immediate vengeance.
Sheik Ibrahim opposed them, representing that it was always time
enough to make war, and that it was right first to try persuasion. I
proposed to the emir to go myself with explanations to Giandal. At
first he refused the offer, saying:—“Why should you take the trouble
of going to him? Let him come himself, or my sabre shall compel
him.” He yielded, however, at length to my arguments, and I set out
escorted by two Bedouins. Giandal received me with anger, and
learning who I was, said to me:—“If I had met you anywhere but
under my tent, you should never have eaten bread again: be thankful
to our customs, which forbid my killing you.”—“Words do not kill,”
said I; “I am your friend, and have your good at heart. I am come to
ask a private interview with you. If what I have to say to you does not
satisfy you, I shall return by the way that I came.” Seeing my sang-
froid, he stood up, called his eldest son, conducted me beyond the
tents, where we sat down upon the ground, and I thus opened the
conference:—
“Which do you prefer, slavery or liberty?”
“Liberty, undoubtedly!”
“Union or discord?”—“Union!”
“Greatness or abasement?”—“Greatness!”
“Poverty or riches?”—“Riches!”
“Good or evil?”—“Good!”
“All these advantages we are desirous of securing to you: we wish to
release you from slavery to the Wahabees, and from the tyranny of
the Osmanlis, by a general confederation which shall make us
powerful and free. Why do you refuse to join us?” He answered:
“What you say is plausible, but we shall never be strong enough to
resist Ebn Sihoud!”—“Ebn Sihoud is a man like yourself; he is
moreover a tyrant, and God does not favour oppressors: it is not
numbers, but intelligence which gives the superiority; power does not
rest in the sabre which strikes, but in the will which directs it.” The
conference lasted some time longer; but in the end I convinced him,
and persuaded him to accompany me to the Drayhy, who was highly
satisfied with the issue of my negotiation.
We next encamped near the mountains of Sangiar, which are
inhabited by the worshippers of an evil spirit. The principal tribe of
the country, commanded by Hammond el Tammer, is fixed near the
river Sagiour, and does not wander like the others. Hammond
refused at first to enter into the alliance. I had a long correspondence
with him on this subject, and having at length persuaded him to join
us, great rejoicings took place on both sides. Hammond invited the
Drayhy to visit him, and received him magnificently. Five camels and
thirty sheep were slaughtered for the entertainment, which was
served on the ground without the tents. Large dishes of tinned
copper, resembling silver, were borne each by four men, containing a
mountain of rice six feet high, surmounted by an entire sheep or the
quarter of a camel. In other dishes not so large, was a roast sheep or
a camel’s ham; and a multitude of little dishes, filled with dates and
other dried fruits, were distributed in the intervals. Their bread is
excellent. They bring their corn from Diabekir, and their rice from
Marhach and Mallatia. When we were seated, or rather squatted,
round this feast, we could not distinguish the persons opposite to us.
The Bedouins of this tribe dress much more richly than the others:
the women are very pretty; they wear silk dresses, many bracelets
and ear-rings of gold and silver, and a golden ring in the nose.
After some days passed in festivities, we continued our journey and
approached a river, or rather an arm of the Euphrates, which
connects it with the Tigris. Here we were joined by a courier, who in
five days had travelled on a dromedary a distance which takes thirty
at the pace of a caravan. He came from the district of Neggde, sent
by a friendly sheik to warn the Drayhy of the rage into which his
projects and alliances had thrown Ebn Sihoud. He despaired of
seeing him ever able to make head against the storm, and strongly
recommended him to make peace with the Wahabees. I wrote, in the
name of the Drayhy, that he felt no more concern about Ebn Sihoud
than he should about a grain of mustard; placing his confidence in
God, the sole giver of victory. Then, by a diplomatic ruse, I gave him
to understand that the armies of the Grand Signior would support the
Drayhy, who was desirous, above all things, of opening the road to
the caravans and delivering Mecca from the power of the Wahabees.
The next day we crossed the great arm of the river in boats, and
encamped at the other side, in the vicinity of the tribe of El Cherarah,
celebrated for its courage, and also for its ignorance and obstinacy.
We had foreseen the extreme difficulty of gaining it over, not only on
account of these faults, but because of the friendship which existed
between its chief Abedd, and Abdallah, the principal minister of King
Ebn Sihoud. Accordingly he refused to join the alliance; and in this
state of things, the Drayhy, supposing all negotiation useless,
declared that the sabre must decide between them. The following
day Sahen was sent, with five hundred cavalry, to attack Abedd. He
returned in three days, having taken one hundred and forty camels,
and two mares of great value: eight men only were killed, but a great
number wounded on both sides. I witnessed on this occasion a very
extraordinary cure. A young man, a relation of Sahen, was brought
back, having his skull broken by a stroke of the djerid, seven sabre
wounds in the body, and a lance still fixed in his side. The extraction
of the lance was immediately set about, and it was brought out from
the opposite side: during the operation the patient turned to me and
said—“Do not distress yourself about me, Abdallah, I shall not die;”
and extending his hand, he took my pipe and began smoking as
tranquilly as if the seven gaping wounds had been in another body.
In about twenty days he was completely cured, and was on
horseback as before. The only medicine they gave him was camel’s
milk mixed with fresh butter, and his only food was dates dressed in
butter. Every third day his wounds were washed in camel’s urine. I
doubt if a European surgeon, with all his apparatus, would have
made so complete a cure in so short a time.
The war became daily more serious: Abedd collected his allies to
surround us, which obliged us to encamp upon the sands of Caffera,
where there is no water. The women were obliged to fetch it daily
from the river, in leathern budgets carried by camels. The great
quantity necessary for watering the cattle rendered this a very heavy
labour. On the third day the terrified drivers came to announce that
eight hundred camels had been carried off by Abedd’s followers,
while they were leading them to the river. The Drayhy, to revenge
this outrage, gave orders to strike the tents and to make a rapid
advance on the tribe of Cherarah, which he resolved to attack with
his whole force. We marched a day and night without halting, and
pitched ten thousand tents at about half a league from the camp of
Abedd. A general and murderous battle seemed inevitable; but I
determined to hazard a last effort to prevent it if possible.
The Bedouins hold women in great respect, and consult them on all
their plans. In the tribe of El Cherarah their influence is even more
extensive than elsewhere; there the women hold the actual
command. They have generally much more sense than their
husbands; and Arquia, wife of the Sheik Abedd, in particular passes
for a very superior woman. I determined to go to her, to take her
some presents of ear-rings, bracelets, necklaces, and other trifles,
and to endeavour thereby to bribe her to our interests. Having
secretly made all the necessary inquiries to direct my proceedings, I
introduced myself to her in the absence of her husband, who was
holding a council of war with one of his allies. By dint of compliments
and presents, I led her to enter herself on the subject of the war,—
the real purpose of my visit, though I did not choose to confess it. I
took the opportunity of explaining to her the advantages of an
alliance with the Drayhy, solely as a subject of conversation, and by
no means as authorised to consult with her upon it: I told her that my
visit was solely induced by a natural curiosity to see so celebrated a
woman, who governed warriors redoubtable for their courage, but in
need of her superior understanding rightly to direct their brutal force.
During this conversation her husband returned to the camp, was
informed of my arrival, and sent orders to Arquia ignominiously to
dismiss the spy she had with her; that as the rites of hospitality
would withhold his arm from taking vengeance upon the threshold of
his own tent, he should not enter it till the traitor was gone. Arquia
haughtily replied, that I was her guest, and that she should not suffer
the law to be laid down to her. I got up to take leave of her, asking
pardon for the embarrassment I had caused; but she seemed to
make a point of convincing me that I had not gratuitously attributed
to her an influence which she did not possess, for she detained me
by force while she went to confer with her husband. She soon
returned, accompanied by Abedd, who treated me very politely, and
requested me to explain the intentions of the Drayhy. I gained his
entire confidence, by the assistance of his wife, and, before the end
of the day, he himself solicited permission to accompany me to the
Drayhy; which I opposed, telling him that I should not dare to present
him to the emir without notice, because he was so highly irritated
against him; but that I would plead his cause and send him an
immediate answer. I left them at least as desirous of joining the
confederacy as I had been to persuade them to do so.
By the invitation of the Drayhy, Abedd went a few days afterwards to
set his seal to the treaty, and to exchange the camels which had
been reciprocally taken during the war. This difficult affair thus
terminated in so satisfactory a manner, we left the sands to pass
eight days in the district of Atteria, at three hours’ distance from the
Tigris, near the ruins of the castle El Attera, where the pasturage is
abundant. Having here refreshed the cattle, we continued our route
eastwards.
We one day met a Bedouin, mounted on a fine black dromedary: the
sheiks saluted him with an air of concern, and inquired what had
been the issue of his unfortunate adventure of the preceding year. I
asked his history, and found the recital sufficiently interesting to give
it a place in my journal. Aloian (this was the name of the Bedouin,)
while hunting the gazelle, arrived at a spot where broken lances,
bloody sabres, and unburied corpses indicated a recent battle. A
plaintive sound, which scarcely reached his ear, attracted him to a
pile of dead bodies, in the midst of which a young Arab still breathed.
Aloian hastened to his assistance, placed him upon his dromedary,
led him to his tent, and by his paternal cares restored him to life.
After four months’ convalescence, Faress (the wounded man) began
to talk of his departure; but Aloian said to him:—“If we must
absolutely separate, I will conduct you to your tribe, and there take
leave of you with regret; but if you will remain with me, you shall be
my brother, my mother shall be your mother, and my wife your sister:
consider my proposal, and give it a deliberate answer.”—“Oh! my
benefactor,” replied Faress, “where shall I find such relations as you
offer me? But for you, I should not now be living; my flesh would
have been devoured by birds of prey, and my bones by the beasts of
the desert: since you are willing to keep me, I will live with you and
serve you to the end of my life.” A motive less pure than he dared to
avow had prompted Faress’s decision: love for Hafza, the wife of
Aloian, who had been his nurse, was beginning to agitate his bosom,
and was returned. Aloian, who entertained no suspicion, one day
charged Faress to escort his mother, his wife, and two children to a
new encampment, while he went hunting. Faress could not resist this
fatal opportunity: he laded a camel with the tent, placed the mother
and two children upon it, and sent them forward, saying that he
would follow with Hafza on horseback. But the old woman looked
back in vain: Hafza did not appear; Faress had carried her away
upon an extremely swift mare to his tribe. In the evening Aloian
arrived, fatigued with the chase, and searched in vain for his tent
among those of his tribe. The old mother had been unable to pitch it
without assistance, and he found her seated upon the earth with the
two children. “Where is Hafza?” said he.—“I have neither seen Hafza
nor Faress,” replied she: “I have been expecting them since the
morning.” Then, for the first time, he suspected the truth; and having
assisted his mother to fix the tent, he mounted his black dromedary
and rode two days till he came up to the tribe of Faress. At the
entrance of the camp he stopped to speak to an old woman who was
alone. “Why do you not go to the sheik?” said she; “there is a feast in
the tribe to-day: Faress Ebn Mehidi, who had been wounded on a
field of battle and wept for dead, is returned, bringing with him a
beautiful woman; this evening their wedding is to be celebrated.”
Aloian dissembled, and waited for the night: then, while all the camp
slept, he introduced himself into the tent of Faress, separated his
head from his body by a stroke of his sabre, and having carried the
corpse out of the encampment, returned upon his steps, found his
wife asleep, and woke her, saying,—“It is Aloian who calls thee;
follow me.” She rose in terror and said,—“Save thyself, imprudent
man! Faress and his brothers will kill thee.”—“Traitress!” replied he,
“what have I done to be thus treated? Have I ever contradicted or
reproached thee? Hast thou forgotten all the cares I have lavished
upon thee? Hast thou forgotten thy children? Come, rise, call upon
God and follow me: accursed be the devil who has tempted you to
commit this folly!” But Hafza, far from being moved by this mildness
of Aloian, exclaimed, “Go hence! or I shall give the alarm and call
Faress to kill thee.” Seeing that there was nothing to be gained by
remonstrance, he seized her, stopped her mouth, and in spite of her
resistance placed her on a dromedary, which never paused till they
were out of hearing of the camp. Then placing her en croupe behind
him, he more leisurely continued his route. At day-break the corpse
of Faress and the disappearance of his wife set the whole camp in a
tumult. His father and brothers followed and overtook Aloian, who
defended himself with heroic courage. Hafza, breaking off her bonds,
joined the assailants and threw stones at him, one of which struck
him on the head and made him stagger. Aloian, however, though
covered with wounds, conquered his adversaries: he killed the two
brothers, and disarmed the father, saying it would be disgraceful to
him to kill an old man; he restored him his mare, and advised him to
return home; then, seizing his wife anew, he pursued his route and
reached his tribe without having exchanged a word with her. He
immediately assembled all her relations, and placing Hafza in the
midst of them, said to her,—“Relate, thyself, all that has passed: I
refer my cause to the judgment of thy father and brother.” Hafza told
the tale truly, and her father, full of indignation, raised his sabre and
laid her at his feet.
Having proceeded stage by stage to within four hours of Bagdad, M.
Lascaris secretly repaired thither to see the French consul, M. Adrien
de Correncé, and negotiate with him for a large sum of money.
The next day, after crossing the Tigris at Machad, we established
ourselves near the river El Cahaun, and learned there that a
sanguinary war was raging between the Bedouins, who took part for
or against our alliance. Sheik Ibrahim persuaded the Drayhy not to
lose time, but to form a junction with our allies as expeditiously as
possible. We consequently advanced, and encamped near many
little springs, at twenty hours’ distance from Bagdad; and the next
day crossed a great chain of mountains: we then took the necessary
precaution of filling our water budgets, having a march of twelve
hours to make over burning sands, where neither water nor herbage
is to be found. On reaching the frontiers of Persia we met a
messenger of the tribe of El Achgaha, bearing a letter from the chief
Dehass, who demanded the assistance of the Father of Heroes—the
chief of the most redoubtable warriors—the powerful Drayhy, against
enemies who number fifteen thousand tents. We were then at six
days’ journey from this tribe; but the Drayhy having given orders to
quicken the march, we accomplished this distance in three times
twenty-four hours, without halting even to eat. The greatest fatigue of
this forced march fell upon the women, who were obliged to make
the bread and milk the camels, without delaying the caravan.
The organization of this ambulatory kitchen was very curious. At
certain regulated distances women were placed, who were
employed without relaxation. The first, mounted on a camel laden
with wheat, had a handmill before her. The corn once ground, she
passed the meal to her neighbour, whose business it was to knead it
with water, carried in budgets suspended on the sides of her camel.

Committed Action in Practice A Clinician S Guide To Assessing Planning and Supporting Change in Your Client Patricia A. Bach

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Committed Action in Practice A

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A Clinician s Guide to Cannabinoid Science 1st Edition

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The Therapeutic Relationship in Cognitive Behavioral

“A must-read for ACT practitioners! The crucial importance of committed action is

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is a powerful,

Based in the latest ACT research, this series is designed

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Distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books

Copyright © 2018 by Daniel J. Moran, Patricia A. Bach, and Sonja V. Batten

Cover design by Amy Shoup

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1 What Is Committed Action? ������������������������������������������������������ 1

2 Perspectives on Commitment ����������������������������������������������������17

3 The Fundamentals of Contextual Behavioral Science for

4 Assessing and Planning Committed Actions with Contextual

5 Identifying Obstacles to Committed Action����������������������������������69

6 Addressing Obstacles to Committed Action on the Part

7 Addressing Obstacles to Committed Action on the Part

8 Reviewing Evidence-­Based Psychotherapies�������������������������������� 115

9 Blending Evidence-­Based Approaches with ACT ������������������������ 141

10 Application of Committed Action: Case Examples�����������������������163

11 Bringing It All Together ���������������������������������������������������������183

What Is Committed Action?

About This Book

What Are You Committed To?

The ACT Model and Core ACT Processes

Figure 1. The ACT hexaflex.

Contact with the Present Moment

Context Influences Committed Action

• She’s morbidly obese.

• She’s a triathlete and typically runs 50 miles a week.

• She has a history of setting goals she can’t achieve.

processes—­acceptance, defusion, contact with the present moment, self-­as-­context,

General Perspectives on Commitment

The ACT Perspective on Committed Action

Why Focus on Behavior?

on working with clients to increase their engagement in functional behaviors through

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1 What Is Committed Action? �� 1

2 Perspectives on Commitment ��17

5 Identifying Obstacles to Committed Action��69

8 Reviewing Evidence-Based Psychotherapies�� 115

9 Blending Evidence-Based Approaches with ACT �� 141

10 Application of Committed Action: Case Examples��163

11 Bringing It All Together ��183

processes—acceptance, defusion, contact with the present moment, self-as-context,