Hi,
Yes I think that it can be difficult to describe the characteristics that distinguish these approaches as a separate group. However, for me they are typified at the clinical level by interventions like mindfulness, acceptance and validation, dialectics, values and cognitive defusion. Experiential interventions seem as important, or usually more important, than didactic ones. Direct challenging of cognitive content is eschewed in favour of interventions (like some of those mentioned) that seek to change the nature of the relationship the individual has to her/his cognition generally. Also spirituality and relationship are emphasised in these approaches.
The "Third Wave Behavior Therapies" remain allied to the empirical core identified with behavioral therapies generally (though much of the above is generally associated with less empirically-based approaches).

My training has predominantly been in Cognitive approaches (Beck, Ellis,). These have very explicitly emphasised the need to change cognitve content in order to change "bad feelings" (e.g the Daily Thought Record has been a central intervention, see Padesky and Greenberger's Mind over Mood for instance). The "Third Wave" approaches seem to teach a radical acceptance of private experience and would often regard the challenging of cognitve content as an example of dysfunctional control attempts or as invalidating of the client's experiences. The latter often advocate a willingness to be present with feelings and emotion and more established CBT interventions are only used to assist this goal. I cannot see at this point how these positions can be reconciled.

Beckian CT seems not to give any central role to values and the activity scheduling intervention, for instance, seems to prescribe a general increase in activity because of its likely anti-depressant effects rather than choosing actions as part of living a more valued life generally (stressed, for instance, by Hayes et al., Jacobson etc). Also is it appartent why Cognitive therapists, given the underlying theory, would utilise experiential interventions, mindfulness-based interventions etc?

My original question was asking if people can see a way of integrating these recent developments with CT. I suppose the question was asked because I am finding difficulty doing this.