Anna was overwhelmed by the administrative burden of her job. Self-compassion was the answer | Gill Straker and Jacqui Winship

Over time, she was able to more readily accept the impact of ADHD on her life without labelling this as a character flaw

• The modern mind is a column where experts discuss mental health issues they are seeing in their work

A central tension in psychotherapy is the interplay between acceptance and change. People usually seek therapy because they wish to alter some aspect of their lives. Yet, at its core, therapeutic change often begins with reaching an acceptance that suffering, distress and imperfections are an inherent part of the human experience.

While this tension is at the heart of all therapies, there are two forms of therapy that explicitly target this interplay.