Meditation and Mindfulness

Meditation is a classical method for developing mindfulness that has been adopted by contemporary cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)

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Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is a recent development in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). MBCT has proven effective against depression and anxiety. There is a lot of ongoing research on its effectiveness in alleviating or preventing other kinds of suffering. The main component of MBCT is formal meditation introduced in different forms.

Every kind of meditation includes at least two elements: concentration and mindfulness. In meditation exercises used in psychotherapy, mindfulness plays a far more important role than concentration. There are two reasons for that:

  1. Deep levels of concentration are hard to attain. They require amounts of effort and talent comparable to those needed for mastering serious sport or musical skills.
  2. There are not many research results demonstrating long-term healing effects of concentrative meditation; there are, however, a lot of methodologically sound studies showing significant and long-lasting therapeutic effects of mindfulness meditation.

Concentrative techniques seem attractive to many people (as far as they are able to learn them to a sufficient degree), because the effects of concentration are immediate and can be very pleasant. States of narrowly focused attention are marked by a decrease or even absence of anxiety, deep tranquility and clarity of mind, and can result in perception of happiness or — at deeper levels of concentration — even blissful rapture. These states are, however, impermanent. Addiction to such experiences my even cause additional problems like disappointment and depression triggered by the loss of concentration.

Mindfulness, on the other hand, does not feel pleasant most of the time. Satisfaction only comes when some kind of insight is gained, which is the result of a — sometimes pretty long and, at times, painful — healing process.

Example:   A woman that was sexually abused by close relatives as a teenager suffers from recurrent depression. She attends an eight-week MBCT course and starts meditating on a daily basis. The next depressive episode comes. She fights it and manages to function and do her high-responsibility job. Her desperation grows, however, and every morning she wonders whether she would be able to make it through the day, or whether, finally, the "total" breakdown would come. She starts thinking that meditation is useless and cannot help her anymore; but she does it anyway. One day, during meditation, she suddenly realizes that she is not guilty of the sexual abuse she suffered. Of course, she has always known that and has been rationally convinced of it. But, apparently, deep inside, there has been a conviction that she was to blame, that she was bad, doomed or some similar destructive belief. The insight that she gained during her meditation was a direct experience of the truth about her old trauma and that is why it had a long-lasting healing effect. (A slow but steady recovery from depression followed.)

Of course, the effects of meditation are not always that dramatic. More often, the healing process unfolds gradually by many tiny insights and small positive changes. In any case, regular meditation practice and informal mindfulness exercises are crucial for therapeutic success.

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