This is a video I whipped up covering a few different things you can do with the S-V Matrix. Below is the transcript:

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Hi this is Jacob Martinez from TheACTmatrix.com, and ACTnaturally.net. I’m gonna go through a few different things that you can do with clients using the S-V version of the ACT Matrix. 

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This is a modified version of the Matrix that I created and have been using for the past few years. S stands for survival and V stands for vital. I’ve got another video and some posts on my websites explaining the rationale a little more, so go check those out if you have questions.

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Easily Explore Evolutionary Function

The S-V Matrix is designed to take evolutionary history into account when discussing our behavior and experiences. By setting up a system of survival and vital, we can explore how various behaviors and experiences contribute to our survival, as well as help us live a vital life. We can also explore how some of these experiences used to function for our ancestors, and how they evolved in the first place. All of these common psychological concerns have evolutionary roots, and at the end of the day they all are related to survival in some way.

Using the matrix we can draw loops between the inner experience of these common issues and how they manifest on the outside in terms of overt behaviors. 

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We can also use the S-V Matrix to help talk about how all of our emotional and cognitive experiences are rooted in helping us survive as a species. By putting these experiences into evolutionary context we help normalize them for our clients, and begin to transform the functions they have.

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We can do this for any behavior.

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We don’t want to forget that not only do the experiences we have help us survive as a species, they also help make our lives full, meaningful, and vital. A vital life means having the complete range of human experience.

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Nonjudgmenally talk about any behavior

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Bringing in the evolutionary context is already in my opinion inherently non-judgmental, and we can take it further by really highlighting how and why our minds do what they do, and why some behaviors are hard to change. We also want to emphasize that these actions make sense given the history of the person, and while they are not the only possible option, many people in their position might do the exact same things.

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Seamlessly integrate the choice point.

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The choice point and the traditional ACT Matrix are hard to use simultaneously because they use the same terminology but mean different things, when they say toward and away. Trying to use both with clients can get confusing for both the client and the therapist.

By using Survival & Vital instead of Toward & Away, we free up the ability to integrate the choice point easily into the matrix. 

Many survival actions we engage in can be done in ways that move us away from our values, and in ways that move us toward our values. On the other end, while most of the actions we engage in that bring us a sense of vitality are inherently toward moves, this isn’t always the case. We can engage in vital actions that move us away from our values in certain contexts. So adding on this additional layer of functional analysis is super helpful.

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Transform survival stuff into vital stuff

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Many actions we engage in to survive can be transformed into vital experiences. Right now for example we are both breathing, this helps us survive, but if we take 30 seconds to take our breathing under conscious control and simply allow ourselves to breathe, being in charge of how long each breath takes, how long we hold it in our body, and how long we exhale it. (30 seconds) We might notice that the act of breathing itself becomes a vital experience. 

You can imagine a kind of compass needle in the center point of the matrix, constantly jiggling back and forth the way compass needles do. Certain actions can move the needle toward the survival side, or the vital side, even if it’s just the slightest move.

So we want to help our clients notice those subtle shifts, and contact them deliberately.

All of our senses have survival functions, and all can be transformed in this way.

We can help ourselves along by using prompts like “Look at this as if you were a new-born child.”

“Listen with a sense of curiosity.” “Imagine you are an alien, smelling this scent for the very first time.”

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Our covert behavior can just as easily be transformed in the same way.

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Extract Values from Any Action

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I come from the school of thought that our values permeate every action we engage in no matter how small. Therefore, any action can provide information that will help us clarify and identify what deeply matters to us. 

We can breathe in a way that is meaningless to us, or we can breathe in a way that is meaningful. 

We can walk in a way that just gets us from point A to B, or we can walk in a way that adds some sense of vitality to our life.

The power is in the ability to choose how we do things. And again we can use that compass needle metaphor. The needle is constantly moving, never still, always ready to turn as it locks onto something of importance. 

Using the S-V Matrix we can explore any action and try to notice the pull toward vitality that is there.

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Practice Shifting Attention along the vertical line

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You can do this in the traditional ACT Matrix too, though in the S-V Matrix a greater emphasis is placed on the vertical line being where our attention is focused at any given moment. 

By using this distinction, we can ask questions that draw our clients attention to the external space around us, and their internal world.

Questions like “What’s something in this room that is helpful for survival?”, and “What is something in this room that sparks a sense of vitality?” draw a clients attention up and out into their environment.

Other questions can help them turn inward with an open and curious stance. 

Like sand shifting in an hourglass, our attention is constantly moving between the external space and the internal world. We can practice things like attending to the external world through our sense of hearing for 1 minute, then turning inward and attending to our mind for 1 minute. 

Many different experiments can be done by harnessing the vertical line.

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Use Imagery to Evoke Experience

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The S-V Matrix can be used to add context to imaginal exercises. 

We might ask our client to imagine themselves in a certain emotional state. 

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And then help them observe what is happening in their body as they do this. 

We can explore things like what body position would best fit this experience and so on.

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And then we can do the same thing on the vital end of the spectrum too.

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We can also ask clients to imagine different scenarios, or different experiences and see where that compass needle moves, do these imaginations evoke survival experiences or vital ones?

Imagine your cat was here in this room with us right now as you are talking about this. What do you notice? If your dog was here in this room what would pique his interest first? Notice what shows up for you as you do this.

Picture your son there in that chair, imagine how his face would look, the expression on it. 

Imagine holding your daughter’s hand right now. 

Any prompt such as these can evoke powerful experiences that can then be used and explored.

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Collaboratively turn survival moves into vital moves.

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Actions on the Survival end aren’t just for survival itself, that’s the huge umbrella function, within that umbrella are core human yearnings. If we can analyze the function of behavior with clients and see what yearning is being met then we can collaborate with clients to brainstorm alternate actions that meet the same yearning more flexibly.

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This is much more effective than simply assigning alternate behaviors because they are “safer”, for example. We want any alternative behavior to have the same function rather than being topographically similar. 

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We can do easy self-as-process and self-as-context work 

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By viewing our experience through the lens of the S-V Matrix, we can notice the self as an ongoing process in context. 

Right now my heart is beating, my lungs are filling with air in and out, my body is digesting, and so on.

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And as that is all happening my mind is doing it’s thing. Thinking, reasoning, processing, giving me images and ideas and words.

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And at the same time I am caring about the people and things in my life that matter so much to me.

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And I can be doing X, Y, Z with intention and purpose. 

Going through the S-V Matrix in this way helps clients view themselves as an amalgamation of experience and behavior that is constantly moving. Never settled. Always settled. 

Those are just the cool things that you can do with the S-V Matrix that I’ve thought of so far. If you like this video, share something about this video, with a friend, colleague, or online. 

You can also contact me if you have any questions or want to know more.

Thank you!