Mindfulness-Based Interventions: A Coming of Age?

Abstract

Mindfulness-based interventions are being reported with increasing frequency in the empirical medical literature. The increased person-centered locus of control reported in A. M. Taco ´n, Y. M. Caldera, and C. Ronaghan (2004) among breast cancer patients engaged in mindfulness-based stress reduction reflects a medical paradigm that empowers the individual to work with one's own stress, illness, challenges, and demands of daily living. In addition to the clinical applications of mindfulness-based interventions appearing in the literature, and the areas for further investigation and research, it is important to place these interventions in a context in which the practitioner and patients are equally engaged in the intervention. In this way, they both share in a truly participatory, biopsychosocially oriented medicine, where bidirectional healing takes place.

Meditative Dialogue: Cultivating Compassion and Empathy with Survivors of Complex Childhood Trauma

“…Mindfulness researchers have begun examining effects of meditation practices on specific areas of the brain through neuroimaging studies Engstrom & Soderfeldt, 2010;Fuchs, 2004;Gabowitz et al, 2008;Holzel et al, 2011;Krasner, 2004;Light et al, 2009;Lutz et al, 2008;Preston et al, 2007;Slagter, Davidson, & Lutz, 2011). Their findings hold promise for survivors of CCT as they work to develop alternative ways of negotiating their lives and relationships.…”

Meditative Dialogue: Cultivating the Transformative Theater of Psychotherapy

“…Over the past twenty years there has been a growing body of psychotherapy literature that has focused on the use of meditation and mindfulness tools in therapeutic practice (Bell, 2009;Blanton, 2007;Brown & Ryan, 2003;Brown, Ryan, & Creswell, 2007;Germer, Siegel, & Fulton, 2005;Griffith & Griffith, 2003;Hick & Bien, 2008;Kabat-Zinn, 1994;Krasner, 2004;Linehan, 1993;Perez-De-Albeniz & Holmes, 2000;Surrey, 2005;Walsh & Shapiro, 2006). This literature has focused on such issues as the importance of respecting and incorporating clients' spiritual beliefs in therapeutic work (Blanton, 2007;Griffith & Griffith, 2003), the enhancement of relationship skills that mindfulness practices can offer (Bell, 2009;Blanton, 2007: Brown & Ryan, 2003Germer et al, 2005;Hick & Bien, 2008;Linehan, 2003;Surrey, 2005), stress reduction and self-regulation (Kabat-Zinn, 1994;Linehan, 1993), and the cultivation of curious and open co-constructive and collaborative relationships between therapists and clients (Lord, 2010;Surrey, 2005).…”

Meditative dialogue: tuning in to the music of family therapy

“…Over the past twenty years there has been a growing body of family therapy literature that has focused on issues of spirituality and mindfulness in therapeutic practice (Blanton, ; Block‐Lerner et al ., ; Carson et al ., ; Gambrel and Keeling, ; Gehart and McCollum, ; Gehart and Pare, ; Germer et al ., ; Griffith and Griffith, ; Hick and Bien, ; Kabat‐Zinn, ; Krasner, ; Perez‐De‐Albeniz and Holmes, ; Rivett and Street, ; Surrey, ; Walsh, ). Much of this literature has focused on the importance of respecting and incorporating clients' beliefs in therapeutic work (Blanton, ; Griffith and Griffith, ; Rivett and Street, ), the enhancement of intimate relationship skills that mindfulness practices can offer (Barnes et al ., ; Burpee and Langer, ; Carson et al ., ; Gambrel and Keeling, ; Gehart and McCollum, ; Jacobson et al ., ; Pruitt and McCollum, ; Wachs and Cordova, ), the cultivation of curious and open co‐constructive and collaborative relationships between therapists and clients (Griffith and Griffith, ; Surrey, ; Walsh and Shapiro, ) and mindfulness as a method of enhancing parent–child relationships (Altmaier and Maloney, ; Bell, ; Block‐Lerner et al ., ; Dumas, ; Duncan et al ., ; Siegel and Hartzell, ).…”

“…Co‐constructive relationships are those in which therapists and clients work intimately together. Participants ‘enter into the domains of awareness and moment‐to‐moment reality, which encompasses our shared humanity’ (Krasner, , p. 210). Gehart and Pare () located mindfulness or ‘Buddhist psychology’ in the realm of post‐modernist collaborative therapy.…”