Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Destructive Experiential Avoidance (ACT-DEA): A Feasibility Study

Background: This study is a preliminary study on an acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) program that mitigates destructive experiential avoidance (DEA) behaviors, including self-harm behavior and addiction; Methods: Twenty participants aged 15–25 years who had confirmed DEA behavior within the last month participated in a total of six sessions of ACT. Demographic characteristics, history of psychiatric illness, and TYPES and patterns of DEA behavior were confirmed in the baseline survey. The severity of clinical symptoms, frequency of DEA behavior and impulsivity, characteristics of experiential avoidance (EA) behavior, depression, and quality of life (QOL) were measured before and after the program for comparative statistical tests using the intention-to-treat method. Furthermore, the severity of clinical symptoms was evaluated after each program, along with the frequency of DEA behavior and trends in impulsivity, which were investigated based on the behavior log; Results: After the ACT program, both the frequency of DEA behavior and impulsivity and the severity of clinical symptoms, depression, and anxiety decreased significantly. Furthermore, among the EA characteristics, pain aversion, distraction and inhibition, and delayed behavior significantly improved. Moreover, the overall QOL, psychological and social relationships, and QOL regarding the environment also improved; Conclusions: The results of this feasibility study demonstrate the potential of the ACT program as an effective intervention in DEA behavior. The results of this study may be used as preliminary data for future large-scale randomized studies

Voltage decay and redox asymmetry mitigation by reversible cation migration in lithium-rich layered oxide electrodes

The use of high-energy-density lithium-rich layered-oxide electrodes in batteries is hindered by voltage decay on cycling. Improving the reversible cation migration by altering oxygen stacking is shown to suppress voltage decay and redox asymmetry in lithium-rich nickel manganese oxides. Despite the high energy density of lithium-rich layered-oxide electrodes, their real-world implementation in batteries is hindered by the substantial voltage decay on cycling. This voltage decay is widely accepted to mainly originate from progressive structural rearrangements involving irreversible transition-metal migration. As prevention of this spontaneous cation migration has proven difficult, a paradigm shift toward management of its reversibility is needed. Herein, we demonstrate that the reversibility of the cation migration of lithium-rich nickel manganese oxides can be remarkably improved by altering the oxygen stacking sequences in the layered structure and thereby dramatically reducing the voltage decay. The preeminent intra-cycle reversibility of the cation migration is experimentally visualized, and first-principles calculations reveal that an O2-type structure restricts the movements of transition metals within the Li layer, which effectively streamlines the returning migration path of the transition metals. Furthermore, we propose that the enhanced reversibility mitigates the asymmetry of the anionic redox in conventional lithium-rich electrodes, promoting the high-potential anionic reduction, thereby reducing the subsequent voltage hysteresis. Our findings demonstrate that regulating the reversibility of the cation migration is a practical strategy to reduce voltage decay and hysteresis in lithium-rich layered materials