It’s fair to say that therapists of many stripes have integrated mindfulness meditation, either through the use of well-developed protocols, such as MBCT, or the integration of specific practices, such as the 3-Minute Breathing Space, into their clinical practices. But do we know, as is the case for pharmaceutical treatments, whether there are problematic side effects associated with its use?
Users of MBCT and MMBPro may be surprised to see that we encourage them to take time away from our course and to split up sessions by a few weeks. We used this approach because using the practice first in therapists’ own lives is such an important part of learning it.
Mindfulness is often seen as an individual activity. It is, after all, about noticing personal experiences, and therefore requires a certain amount of introspection. Despite this, mindfulness is often taught in the context of a relationship or a community.
Mindfulness has become a pretty huge buzzword in the last few years. Search the term and you’ll end up with so many different articles, opinions, ideas, and ways to implement the practice that it can become overwhelming.
The largest meta-analysis to date of randomised controlled trials of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) for relapse prevention in recurrent depression was recently published in JAMA Psychiatry. Here two of the co-authors on the paper, Catherine Crane and Zindel Segal, reflect on its findings and ask “What do we know? What does it mean? Where to next?”
The increasing number of veterans returning from tours of duty leads to an increased awareness of PTSD and its symptoms. Mindfulness is becoming increasingly well known also, if only at the most basic level of its definition. But how do the two relate to each other?
Our patterns of negative thinking are often based on old, well-practiced, automatic cognitive routines (often repetitive). They are motivated (usually ineffectively) by the goal of escaping/avoiding distressing feelings or problematic life situations. These unhelpful routines persist because we remain in a cognitive mode characterized by a number of features.
It’s fair to say that therapists of many stripes have integrated mindfulness meditation, either through the use of well-developed protocols, such as MBCT, or the integration of specific practices, such as the 3-Minute Breathing Space, into their clinical practices. But do we know, as is the case for pharmaceutical treatments, whether there are problematic side effects associated with its use?