the tara bixby podcast 79. Russ Harris: How to Transcend Grief, Crisis, and Loss
Russ Harris is a doctor, therapist, father, trainer of health professionals, and author of The Happiness Trap (plus eight other must-read books). He started his career as a newly-graduated doctor back in 1989 and soon discovered that most of his patients were expressing a significant degree of dissatisfaction in life. He was no stranger to their struggles as he was also experiencing something similar himself.
Even though he had a successful career with a dream job, good income, and high status, he was depressed, anxious, and overweight. He felt his life lacked a sense of meaning and purpose, and at times he was even suicidal. Struggling to understand why he felt this way, he set off on a journey to find out what makes people unhappy and what creates genuine and lasting happiness. After navigating down a lot of blind alleys and dead ends, he eventually discovered Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.
It was love at first discovery. Through ACT, Russ learned how to enrich and enhance his life, and transform the way he dealt with painful thoughts and feelings. This marked a big change for him as he realized he was far more interested in helping his patients build richer more meaningful lives than he was in writing prescriptions for medical conditions. So he threw away his prescription pad and retrained as a therapist.
We chat about...
- How Russ had all the external markers of success but internally he was miserable
- What Acceptance and Commitment therapy looks like
- How emotions are like the weather
- What the natural state of human emotions looks like
- How antidepressants can be an attractive proposition for someone who feels miserable
- What we should be aiming for when it comes to happiness
- Russ's inspiration for writing When Life Hits Hard
- The difference between grief, sadness, and depression
- How you can use ACT to navigate grief, loss, and crisis
- The importance of making room for emotions if you're going through acute grief
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