Note: If you cannot find the question you would like answered, please ask it on the confidential Contact page.
Q Do I have to be in Oxford to train in Adaptation Practice?
A No. You can train in Adaptation Practice anywhere in the world by Skype, Zoom, Teams, email or telephone.
Q How long would I have to do Adaptation Practice for?
A Training in The Practice develops strength and skill to better cope with emotion, moods and feeling and how they affect us. It takes time to learn a new skill and once we have it, it is usually for life. For example, to speak, read and write a language, to ride a bike, to play a musical instrument.
You are advised to expect to do eight weekly training sessions and to practise six days each week. By the end of eight weeks you will be ready to continue with what you have learned so far and will either feel this is enough for now, or you might wish, as many people do, to go deeper into The Practice – which is to go deeper into living your life.
Q Would I have to spend long each day doing The Practice?
A To start with practice is nothing other than whatever we are doing throughout the day. We learn to change our attitudes and actions in how we do everything in our ordinary daily routine. This is Daily Life Practice.
If we reach the stage in The Practice when we are ready to start to learn how to sit in meditation that would take at least thirty minutes each day – but only when feasible. This is not essential; Daily Life Practice is essential.
Q Can I do Adaptation Practice in the NHS (in the UK)?
A Sadly the answer is not any more. Nor is this likely to change in the foreseeable future. I introduced Adaptation Practice while working in University Departments of Psychiatry in NHS hospitals in London and Oxford, but unfortunately new political managers bought into using drugs and cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) and in effect blocked Adaptation Practice.
Q Can my GP or psychiatrist refer me for Adaptation Practice?
A Yes, and many do. But they will not pay for it.
Q If I am already taking prescribed medication can I still do Adaptation Practice?
A Yes, you can train in Adaptation Practice while taking prescribed medication. Many people who are already taking antidepressants, tranquillisers, sleeping pills, mood stabilisers, or stimulants, come for Adaptation Practice because the drugs do not work, are not enough or have adverse side effects.
Q Can Adaptation Practice help me come off prescribed medication?
A Yes. More and more people come to train in Adaptation Practice in order to cope with the side effects of medication and to cope with the withdrawal effects when tapering and discontinuing the medication.
Q Will a medical insurance company pay for Adaptation Practice?
A You can ask them but the likely answer will be ‘No’. They used to but most of them have more or less stopped funding psychological therapies and in their eyes this includes Adaptation Practice.