Mindfulness and clinical psychology.

Mindfulness can do more than serve as a therapeutic technique; it can establish a state of presence that connects to the practice of phenomenology, linking it to a Western intellectual tradition and providing that tradition with a systematic method. This opens the door for psychological investigation of the non-conceptual basis of everyday experience. Combining this theoretical stance with practical mindfulness training for clinical psychologists has broad implications for clinical practice, including descriptive approaches to clinical problems, qualitative research, and reflective practice.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Does mindfulness offer more to psychology than a useful therapeutic technique? This paper argues that it can also establish a state of presence which is understood in relation to the practice of phenomenology. Mindfulness is then both linked to a Western intellectual tradition and offers that tradition a systematic method. This is an opening for psychological investigation of the non-conceptual basis of everyday experience. The combination of this theoretical stance with the increasingly widespread practical training of clinical psychologists in mindfulness has broad implications for clinical practice; this is illustrated in relation to the descriptive approach to clinical problems, qualitative research, and reflective practice.