title: The Use of Acceptance to Promote Positive Change by Decreasing Shame and Guilt: A Practice Exemplar.
abstract: The use of acceptance by mental health clinicians in the clinical setting is an effective method for providing a safe environment for clients to make positive changes. Acceptance means that mental health clinicians are non-judgmental and acknowledge the clients' situations as they are. When actively used by clinicians, acceptance decreases clients' anxiety and the intensity of their feelings of guilt and shame. Clients are then able to begin to accept themselves as they are. The purpose of this article is to discuss the ways in which mental health clinicians promote clients' acceptance of themselves using the tools of acceptance and commitment therapy and dialectical behavioral therapy.
authors.affiliation: a University of Massachusetts, College of Nursing and Health Sciences , Boston , Massachusetts , USA.
authors.forename: Mary-Ellen
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Meltzer
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001519:Behavior; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D006167:Guilt; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D012649:Self Concept