by Russ Harris
Harris introduces Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to a general audience, arguing that the cultural pursuit of happiness is itself the problem, the struggle to eliminate painful thoughts and feelings amplifies them. He teaches defusion, acceptance, values clarification, and committed action as the alternative to control-based coping.
In this collection, The Happiness Trap: How to Stop Struggling and Start Living references 5 other books.
It draws on The Power of Now, Emotional Intelligence and Flow.
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The books Harris references and why each one mattered to the argument.
Aligns with Tolle's The Power of Now on present-moment awareness and disidentification from thought, translating the same insights into clinical ACT techniques
Engages Goleman's Emotional Intelligence on emotion regulation, but argues acceptance (not management) of difficult emotions is the more evidence-based route
Draws on Csikszentmihalyi's Flow to describe values-based action as the source of sustainable engagement, contrasted with the trap of chasing pleasant feelings
Invokes Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning on choosing meaningful action in the presence of suffering, which Harris identifies as the core ACT stance
Engages Gilbert's Stumbling on Happiness on affective forecasting errors, using the same evidence to argue we should stop optimizing for predicted feelings
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Directly cites
Books from completely different categories that share citation overlap with this one. These are the reads you would not find by browsing a single shelf.
Books with the highest citation overlap within the same categories.
Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself
Kristin Neff
3 shared citations
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed
Lori Gottlieb
3 shared citations
Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha
Tara Brach
3 shared citations
Mindset
Carol Dweck
3 shared citations
Working with Emotional Intelligence
Daniel Goleman
2 shared citations
Focus
Daniel Goleman
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