Paul Flaxman
Contact details
About
Overview
Paul has been a lecturer and researcher in City’s psychology department since 2006. His main research interests are in the field of occupational health psychology.
Over the past 15 years, Paul has taken a prominent role in adapting and evaluating acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to help improve employees' psychological health. His latest ACT-based training program has been successfully utilised by around 30 NHS trusts, and in various other organisations.
Paul's ACT research was profiled in impact case studies submitted to the Research Excellence Framework (REF) exercises in 2014 and 2021:
REF 2014: https://impact.ref.ac.uk/casestudies/CaseStudy.aspx?Id=44349
REF 2021: https://results2021.ref.ac.uk/impact/2c269966-dd7a-4936-aca5-2fd1f702352e?page=1
Paul's other main areas of research focus on the functions of perfectionism in workplace settings, and examining predictors of employees' ability to recover from work demands during non-work time (e.g., evenings and vacations).
Paul teaches on City’s longstanding MSc in organisational psychology, focusing on various topics around employees’ mental health and well-being.
Publications
Publications by category
Books (2)
- Bond, F.W., Flaxman, P.E. and Livheim, F. (2013). The Mindful and Effective Employee An Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Training Manual for Improving Well-Being and Performance. New Harbinger Publications. ISBN 9781608826322.
- Flaxman, P.E., Blackledge, J.T. and Bond, F.W. (2011). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Distinctive Features.
Chapters (8)
- Flaxman, P.E., Prudenzi, A. and Zernerova, L. (2022). Acceptance and Commitment Training in the Workplace. The Oxford Handbook of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (pp. 407-431). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780197550076.
- Flaxman, P.E., Prudenzi, A. and Zernerova, L. (2021). Acceptance and commitment training in the workplace. Oxford Handbook of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (pp. 407-431).
- Bond, F.W., Flaxman, P.E. and Lloyd, J. (2016). Mindfulness and meditation in the workplace: An acceptance and commitment therapy approach. In West, M.A. (Ed.), The Psychology of Meditation Research and Practice Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191002786.
- Bond, F.W., Lloyd, J., Flaxman, P.E. and Archer, R. (2015). Psychological Flexibility and ACT at Work. (pp. 459-482). Wiley. ISBN 9781118489567.
- (2013). The Ability of Psychological Flexibility and Job Control to Predict Learning, Job Performance, and Mental Health. In Acceptance and Mindfulness at Work (pp. 121-138). Routledge.
- Flaxman, P.E. and Bond, F.W. (2010). Acceptance and commitment training: Promoting psychological flexibility in the workplace. In Baer, R.A. (Ed.), Assessing Mindfulness and Acceptance Processes in Clients Illuminating the Theory and Practice of Change New Harbinger Publications. ISBN 9781608822621.
- Flaxman, P.E. (2010). Contemporary occupational health psychology: Global perspectives on research, education, and practice. In Houdmont, J. and Leka, S. (Eds.), Contemporary occupational health psychology: Global perspectives on research, education, and practice.
- Flaxman, P.E., Bond, F.W. and Keogh, E. (2002). Preventing and Treating Evaluation Strain: A Brief CBT Approach. (pp. 239-288). Wiley. ISBN 9780471491071.
Journal articles (35)
- Kasujja, R., Musanje, K., McIntosh, R., Mukula, H.M., Jagwe, A., Asiimwe, I.D.... Flaxman, P.E. (2026). Workplace training based on the ACT Matrix for Ugandan hospital staff: A feasibility and acceptability trial. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 41, pp. 101016-101016. doi:10.1016/j.jcbs.2026.101016
- Rad, Y., Prudenzi, A., Zernerova, L., Gerson, J. and Flaxman, P.E. (2025). Effects of workplace acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) programs on psychological flexibility's subprocesses: A systematic review. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 37, pp. 100915-100915. doi:10.1016/j.jcbs.2025.100915
- Musanje, K., Flaxman, P.E., McIntosh, R. and Kasujja, R. (2024). Social validity of acceptance-based workplace mental health training for use in a low resource setting. A qualitative study with Ugandan mental health providers. PLOS Mental Health, 1(4), pp. e0000127-e0000127. doi:10.1371/journal.pmen.0000127
- Archer, R., Lewis, R., Yarker, J., Zernerova, L. and Flaxman, P.E. (2024). Increasing workforce psychological flexibility through organization-wide training: Influence on stress resilience, job burnout, and performance. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 33, pp. 100799-100799. doi:10.1016/j.jcbs.2024.100799
- Christodoulou, V., Flaxman, P.E., Morris, E.M.J. and Oliver, J.E. (2024). Comparison of mindfulness training and acceptance and commitment therapy in a workplace setting: results from a randomized controlled trial. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 33(3), pp. 368-384. doi:10.1080/1359432x.2024.2314934
- Ménard, J., Pratte, K., Flaxman, P.E., Lavigne, G. and Foucreault, A. (2023). Keeping perfectionistic academics safe from themselves with mindfulness. Personality and Individual Differences, 206. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2023.112143
- Flaxman, P.E., Stride, C.B., Newman, S.A. and Ménard, J. (2023). Patterns and predictors of change in energy and mood around a vacation from the workplace: Distinguishing the effects of supplemental work activity and work‐related perseverative cognition. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 96(1), pp. 81-108. doi:10.1111/joop.12410
- Prudenzi, A., D. Graham, C., Flaxman, P.E. and O’Connor, D.B. (2022). Wellbeing, burnout, and safe practice among healthcare professionals: predictive influences of mindfulness, values, and self-compassion. Psychology, Health & Medicine, 27(5), pp. 1130-1143. doi:10.1080/13548506.2021.1898651
- Prudenzi, A., Graham, C.D., Flaxman, P.E., Wilding, S., Day, F. and O’Connor, D.B. (2022). A workplace Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) intervention for improving healthcare staff psychological distress: A randomised controlled trial. PLOS ONE, 17(4), pp. e0266357-e0266357. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0266357
- Christodoulou, V., Flaxman, P.E. and Lloyd, J. (2021). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Group Format for College Students. Journal of College Counseling, 24(3), pp. 210-223. doi:10.1002/jocc.12192
- Horan, S., Flaxman, P.E. and Stride, C.B. (2021). The perfect recovery? Interactive influence of perfectionism and spillover work tasks on changes in exhaustion and mood around a vacation. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 26(2), pp. 86-107. doi:10.1037/ocp0000208
- Calissano, C., Haenschel, C., Flaxman, P.E. and Zernerova, L. (2021). Influence of perfectionism on short-term anxious reactivity to a social-evaluative stressor. Personality and Individual Differences, 173, pp. 110626-110626. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2021.110626
- Gillard, D., Wright, D., McNally, A., Flaxman, P.E., McIntosh, R. and Honey, K. (2021). Acceptance & commitment therapy for school leaders’ well-being: an initial feasibility study. Educational Psychology in Practice, 37(1), pp. 34-51. doi:10.1080/02667363.2020.1855120
- Gaigg, S.B., Flaxman, P.E., McLaven, G., Shah, R., Bowler, D.M., Meyer, B.... South, M. (2020). Self-guided mindfulness and cognitive behavioural practices reduce anxiety in autistic adults: A pilot 8-month waitlist-controlled trial of widely available online tools. Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 24(4), pp. 867-883. doi:10.1177/1362361320909184
- Gillard, D., Flaxman, P. and Hooper, N. (2018). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Applications for Educational Psychologists within Schools. Educational Psychology in Practice, 34(3), pp. 272-281. doi:10.1080/02667363.2018.1446911
- van Hooff, M.L.M., Flaxman, P.E., Soderberg, M., Stride, C.B. and Geurts, S.A.E. (2018). Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction, Recovery State, and Recovery Timing. Human Performance, 31, pp. 125-143. doi:10.1080/08959285.2018.1466889
- Waters, C.S., Frude, N., Flaxman, P.E. and Boyd, J. (2018). Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) for clinically distressed health care workers: Waitlist-controlled evaluation of an ACT workshop in a routine practice setting. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 57(1), pp. 82-98. doi:10.1111/bjc.12155
- Flaxman, P.E., Stride, C.B., Söderberg, M., Lloyd, J., Guenole, N. and Bond, F.W. (2018). Relationships between two dimensions of employee perfectionism, postwork cognitive processing, and work day functioning. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 27(1), pp. 56-69. doi:10.1080/1359432x.2017.1391792
- Lloyd, J., Bond, F.W. and Flaxman, P.E. (2017). Work-related self-efficacy as a moderator of the impact of a worksite stress management training intervention: Intrinsic work motivation as a higher order condition of effect. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 22(1), pp. 115-127. doi:10.1037/ocp0000026
- Wardley, M.N.J., Flaxman, P.E., Willig, C. and Gillanders, D. (2016). ‘Feel the Feeling’: Psychological practitioners’ experience of acceptance and commitment therapy well-being training in the workplace. Journal of Health Psychology, 21(8), pp. 1536-1547. doi:10.1177/1359105314557977
- Pangallo, A., Zibarras, , Lewis, R. and Flaxman, (2015). Resilience through the lens of interactionism: A Systematic Review. Psychological Assessment. doi:10.1037/pas0000024
- Gillanders, D.T., Bolderston, H., Bond, F.W., Dempster, M., Flaxman, P.E., Campbell, L.... Remington, B. (2014). The Development and Initial Validation of the Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire. Behavior Therapy, 45(1), pp. 83-101. doi:10.1016/j.beth.2013.09.001
- Lloyd, J., Bond, F.W. and Flaxman, P. (2013). Identifying Psychological Mechanisms Underpinning a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Intervention for Emotional Burnout. Work & Stress, 27(2), pp. 181-199. doi:10.1080/02678373.2013.782157
- Lloyd, J., Bond, F.W. and Flaxman, P.E. (2013). The value of psychological flexibility: Examining psychological mechanisms underpinning a cognitive behavioural therapy intervention for burnout. Work and Stress, 27(2), pp. 181-199. doi:10.1080/02678373.2013.782157
- Gillanders, D.T., Bolderston, H., Bond, F.W., Dempster, M., Flaxman, P.E., Campbell, L.... Remington, B. (2013). The Development and Initial Validation of the Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire. Behavior Therapy
- Flaxman, P.E., Ménard, J., Bond, F.W. and Kinman, G. (2012). Academics' experiences of a respite from work: effects of self-critical perfectionism and perseverative cognition on postrespite well-being. J Appl Psychol, 97(4), pp. 854-865. doi:10.1037/a0028055
- Bond, F.W., Flaxman, P.E., van Veldhoven, M.J.P.M. and Biron, M. (2010). The Impact of Psychological Flexibility and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (act) on Health and Productivity at Work. pp. 296-313. doi:10.1002/9780470661550.ch15
- Flaxman, P.E. and Bond, F.W. (2010). A randomised worksite comparison of acceptance and commitment therapy and stress inoculation training. Behav Res Ther, 48(8), pp. 816-820. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2010.05.004
- Lewis, R., Yarker, J., Donaldson-Feilder, E., Flaxman, P. and Munir, F. (2010). Using a competency-based approach to identify the management behaviours required to manage workplace stress in nursing: A critical incident study. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 47(3), pp. 307-313. doi:10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2009.07.004
- Flaxman, P.E. and Bond, F.W. (2010). Worksite stress management training: Moderated effects and clinical significance. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 15(4), pp. 347-358. doi:10.1037/a0020522
- Bond, F.W., Flaxman, P.E. and Bunce, D. (2008). The influence of psychological flexibility on work redesign: mediated moderation of a work reorganization intervention. J Appl Psychol, 93(3), pp. 645-654. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.93.3.645
- Flaxman, P.E. and Bond, F.W. (2006). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) in the Workplace. pp. 377-402. doi:10.1016/B978-012088519-0/50018-6
- Bond, F.W. and Flaxman, P.E. (2006). The ability of psychological flexibility and job control to predict learning, job performance, and mental health. Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 26(1-2), pp. 113-130. doi:10.1300/J075v26n01_05
- Keogh, E., Bond, F.W. and Flaxman, P.E. (2006). Improving academic performance and mental health through a stress management intervention: outcomes and mediators of change. Behav Res Ther, 44(3), pp. 339-357. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2005.03.002
- Papadopoulos, L., Bor, R., Walker, C., Flaxman, P. and Legg, C. (2002). Different shades of meaning: Illness beliefs among vitiligo sufferers. Psychology, Health & Medicine, 7(4), pp. 425-433. doi:10.1080/1354850021000015249