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Language Markers of Psychological Flexibility

This entry will hopefully become the home of a set of evolving resources which include one key aspect of my doctoral studies: to create tools to identify ACT and RFT-related terms in everyday discourse and clinical interactions.

I am going to start by attaching the poster I exhibited at the recent ACBS WorldCon which explains some of what I am aiming for, then my first draft of the coding guide which I make reference to in this conversation https://contextualscience.org/post/19892/bank_of_act_consistent_language_across_hexaflex

I share these in the hope of feedback [I honestly feel vulnerable about putting my 'best' ideas out for all to see!]. The tactical next step is, following in the footsteps of Robert Styles & Paul Atkins, to extend the coding guide to cover other-as selfing types, and the overall strategy is to build the recognition of these patterns into PROSOCIAL online communities, a project I, as an early career researcher, have contributed to one joint UK-Canada funding bid for, but is also relevant to the new ACBS workstream on digital presence. The third attachment is the technical appendix I submitted for that bid which pulls together my thinking (obviously standing on the shoulders of the giants of our Alliance of Cyber-cultured BadAss Scientists!) on how this might fit together.

I am particularly interested in hexaflex terms/ language markers for defusion, contact with the present moment and self-as-context. The idea is to create a Functional Online Response-ability Unobtrusive Measure (FORUM!) i.e. a way of gauging psychological flexibility from what people post in peer support communities. This could then be used to alert community managers/moderators to people who are particularly 'rigid' or 'stuck' (Atkins & Styles found a link between the ratio of self statements and future wellbeing).

p.s. If you know of a better way of creating a shared page of resources on this website please let me know!

p.p.s. feel free to add links to other resources