Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)
Mindfulness informed therapies are gathering evidence in relation to their effectiveness for creating sustainable change in
mood and functioning.
What is mindfulness?
Mindfulness’ is a hot topic in Western psychology: increasingly recognised as an effective way to reduce stress, increase self-awareness, enhance emotional intelligence, and effectively handle painful thoughts and feelings.
Mindfulness involves consciously bringing awareness to your here-and-now experience with openness, interest, and receptiveness. Mindfulness is about waking up, connecting with ourselves, and appreciating the fullness of each moment of life. It is a profound way to enhance psychological and emotional resilience, and increase life satisfaction
Mindfulness is a natural state. Habitual and conditioned thinking and behaviour patterns take us away from our natural mindfulness. Have you stared into the flames of a fire or a candle or spent time examining the details of a child’s or loved one’s face? This is mindfulness…being fully present.
How is Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) useful?
Mindfulness practice takes us back to a natural state assisting us to break free from patterns that keep us entangled in mood and behaviour which we wish to change. Neuoroplasticity is the way in which the brain changes in response to experience. It has been found that with repetition, an intentionally created state can become an enduring trait of the individual as reflected in long-term changes in brain function and structure. The practice of mindfulness invites the participant to focus and expand their attention leading to structural changes in the brain. Mindfulness becomes a part of daily life bringing a sense of ease and an ability to be present to whatever arises- pleasant, unpleasant or neutral.
Mindfulness based cognitive therapy is an intervention developed for prevention of relapse. MBCT targets low mood and negative, repetitive thinking. The purpose of the treatment is to enable participants to distance themselves from their negative thinking and therefore disrupt the negative and repetitive cycle of thoughts before they escalate into a more severe mood challenges
The Benefits of Mindfulness
Practising mindfulness helps you:
- to be fully present, here and now
- to experience unpleasant thoughts and feelings safely
- to become aware of what you’re avoiding
- to become more connected to yourself, to others and to the world around you
- to increase self-awareness
- to become less disturbed by and less reactive to unpleasant experiences
- to learn the distinction between you and your thoughts
- to have more direct contact with the world, rather than living through your thoughts
- to learn that everything changes; that thoughts and feelings come and go like the weather
- to have more balance, less emotional volatility
- to experience more calm and peacefulness
- to develop self-acceptance and self-compassion
- improve focus and concentration
- reduce the impact and influence of stressful thoughts and feelings
- facilitate better relationships
- catch self-defeating behaviours, and substitute more effective ones
- become aware of self-defeating thought processes, and ‘let them go’