Lilian Dindo: ACT Therapy for OCD, Anxiety, and Obsessive Thoughts

Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal

Lilian Dindo explains Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for anxiety, panic attacks, and obsessive thoughts They discuss how ACT can help uncover personal values, differentiate anxiety from excitement, and even boost learning in math and physics.

0:00 Introduction
4:05 What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) therapy?
8:12 Suffering is a part of life
11:06 ACT is not just for therapy, but for general illness and rejection
14:24 Lilian's feeling anxiety in this interview *right now*, but ACT is helping
15:57 Dealing with panic attacks
18:22 "Anxiety" and "excitement" are physiologically indistinguishable
20:00 Implementing ACT (specific example)
26:15 Stop avoiding. The mind works by addition (not subtraction)!
30:00 Choosing courage vs. "mustering" courage
30:51 Coping vs. mollifying
33:45 Goal oriented vs. Value oriented
36:06 How to uncover your own values?
42:14 Do values imply a "should"? (specific example)
47:45 What separates those for whom therapy works for, from those it doesn't?
54:57 Suicidal ideation / psychosis (there's hope with ACT)
57:14 Enhancing learning math / physics
59:50 Acceptance vs Acknowledgement
1:01:40 Physical vs Psychology (mind and body connection)
1:05:53 A visual example you can employ to abate anxiety
1:10:39 The role of belief / hope / faith / trust
1:11:08 "Thanking" the negative thought / emotion
1:11:50 People don't suffer with just ONE issue, but multiple

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RESOURCES:

- YouTube link: https://youtu.be/L_hI7JNsbt0
- Lilian's links:
- http://actfindyourpath.com
- https://www.bcm.edu/people-search/lilian-dindo-20557
- https://www.bcm.edu/research/faculty-labs/act-on-health-lab
- http://contextualscience.org
- Links mentioned:
- Karl Friston episode: https://youtu.be/SWtFU1Lit3M
- A H Almaas episode: https://youtu.be/6JlKf1QAvXA
- Curt's Crash Course on Theoretical Physics: https://youtu.be/e8kyvdPP8os

Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal features long-form, technically detailed interviews with leading researchers in physics, mathematics, consciousness, and philosophy, exploring topics at the level of active research. For academics, graduate students, and anyone seeking depth beyond popular science.

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2025-09-17 74 min

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