“To create a life worth living is a major undertaking, so please take the time to appreciate it.”

The Happiness Trap is a book about Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), a third wave psychotherapy that focuses on interrupting thought and behavior patterns with mindfulness strategies.

This book is annoying, though I don’t say this in a bad way. I think the practices proposed in this book, if actually employed, will give many people that embarrassed feeling of “damn, it does kind of work,” that you get from other “common sense” though often difficult to do self care practices, such as healthy(ier) eating, exercise, or fresh air and sunshine. Many of us get lost in our worst moments, our rock-bottoms, and forget that when it comes to daily struggles, those mindfulness tools we often find frustrating at our lowest can be extremely helpful. In that sense, I applaud this book for quite relentlessly encouraging the reader to practice certain exercises while reading, and making it difficult to continue without doing so. In addition, most of the practices are very grounded and helpful; I can’t imagine someone reading this book in good faith and coming away with absolutely nothing. Russ Harris explains his therapeutic methods concisely and compassionately, giving the reader a lot of information that’s easy to digest. Overall, I found the book easy to understand, the exercises easy to remember, and the basis of ACT overall helpful. He encourages the reader to try everything many times, see what works, leave what doesn’t, and to accept and make room for those times nothing is working. He promises nothing though suggests everything in terms of benefits, which is nice in comparison to other self-help gurus or therapists who sell the “gold standard” “full-proof” path to a “perfect” life. I think, in summary, the book is digestible, helpful, and a nice read.

I have a few criticisms, though, as always. Here’s the semi-pedantic part: parts of this therapy are mal-equipped to help neurodivergent people especially. I don’t envision certain exercises being sensory friendly, and given neurodivergent stimming behaviors, there might be a need to greatly adapt these exercises in order for them to be helpful. Though it is explored a tiny bit in the beginning, there needs to be more room for people genuinely suffering from severely traumatic, extreme or even dangerous life circumstances. I unfortunately do not envision this type of therapy reaching people, like me, in severe self harm or suicidal crises. Unfortunately, many therapies do not take into account the sheer exhaustion and disillusionment some of us feel towards life. I think there could have been more to empathize with those people, more to offer outside of the bounds of ACT, given this is a therapy self-help book meant for a wide audience. I just would’ve liked to see some adaptations or suggestions for the marginalized. I also didn’t like the implication that those with the highest will to live will survive, not a fan of that.

In addition, I really wish more of the mentioned research was cited; without citation, I found myself doubting some of the claims. This is especially due to the fact that in general, the field of psychology has a huge reproducibility problem. It’s also already hard to trust research for those of us deeply failed by the mental health system.

Okay, enough of that. I tend to have those issues with these books, and I do understand my inclusivity critiques can be a bit nit-picky. In its entirety, The Happiness Trap is a good book. I was helped by it and I’ll be curious how it might continue to help me in the future. The parts of the book about values I found especially helpful, given I am very driven by values, though can be easily taken from them during mood swings and life struggles.

I do recommend, though go into it with a bit of a skeptical eye. Nice book!

“Life gives most to those who make the most of what life gives.”