Mindfulness and Psychotherapy
FOCUS The Journal of Lifelong Learning in Psychiatry January 1, 2010 Kathy M. Sanders 369 citations
Mindfulness, a natural mental state of present-moment awareness, can be trained through meditation techniques that cultivate a nonjudgmental focus. Integrating mindfulness meditation with standard psychotherapies, especially cognitive behavior therapies, effectively alleviates suffering in affective disorders such as anxiety, depression, and personality disorders while enhancing well-being. Early evidence also suggests a positive impact on therapy outcomes when the clinician practices mindfulness. Mindfulness-based interventions are an important tool for clinicians, though further research with larger samples and controlled conditions is needed to confirm their efficacy.