After an eight-week Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) programme, fifteen counselling students showed significantly increased mindfulness and decreased negative affect, while positive affect remained unchanged. A strong trend toward increased satisfaction with life did not reach statistical significance. More time spent practicing mindfulness during the programme was linked to higher mindfulness at the end. The findings support the idea that mindfulness acts as a mediating factor in symptom relief and well-being improvements, consistent with prior work by Brown and Ryan. The authors suggest mindfulness can be integrated into Positive Psychology as both a concept and therapeutic intervention.
Mindfulness has gained prominence in psychology and medicine, and recently in counseling psychology. This article reviews the mindfulness literature and identifies theoretical and practical overlaps with counseling psychology's core values. It discusses how counseling psychology can uniquely contribute to mindfulness research through multiculturalism, social justice, psychotherapy process and outcome, and supervision and training. Mindfulness can also support counseling psychology's mission by offering strengths-based approaches to intervention and prevention. Five recommendations for a collaborative research agenda are provided.