Chapter 12: mindfulness and other contemplative therapies Flashcards
contemplative therapies =
a collection of practices that can be used to train and develop the mind to reduce mental dysfunction, enhance well being and develop capacities such as heightened calm, concentration, insight and joy.
contemplative psychologies are based on a good-news, bad-news understanding of the mind:
- bad news: our ordinary state of mind is considerably less controlled, developed and functional than we recognize and results in unnecessary suffering
- good news: we can train and develop our minds far beyond conventional levels, which results in enhanced mental capacities, well-being and maturity
central assumptions underlying contemplative therapies:
- Our usual state of mind is significantly uncontrolled, underdeveloped, and dysfunctional.
- This ‘normal’ dysfunction goes unrecognized because we all share it (which makes it seem normal) and because it is self-masking (it distorts awareness to conceal itself).
- The mental dysfunction creates much of our psychological suffering.
- Contemplative practices can be used to train and develop the mind.
- All of these claims can be tested for oneself.
3 broad levels of development:
- Preconventional (prepersonal): stage in which we have no coherent sense of self or of social conventions yet.
- Convention (personal): stage in which we establish a more coherent sense of self and largely accept the conventional cultural assumptions about ourselves and the world.
- Postconvention (transpersonal): stage in which we reflect on culturally accepted beliefs and embrace deeper questions about life and ourselves.
wat is het verschil tussen psychotherapie en contemplative therapies
most psychotherapies aim to foster healthy conventional development, while contemplative therapies traditionally aim for postconventional growth.
hoe kijkt contemplative psychology naar psychoanalyse
From a contemplative perspective, psychoanalysis has underestimated our human nature and potentials. By focusing on conflict, problems, and pathology it largely overlooks our strengths and possibilities.
wat is een overeenkomst tussen psychoanalyse en contemplative therapies
Both approaches agree that meditative disciplines can help patients grasp things in the depth of the mind which are otherwise inaccessible
Contemplative, Jungian, humanistic, and person-centered psychologies agree that….
- the mind possesses an innate drive toward growth and development
- transpersonal experiences can foster psychological healing and growth
transpersonal experiences=
experiences in which the sense of identity or self expands beyond the individual or personal to encompass wider aspects of humankind and the world
overeenkomst cognitive therapies and contemplative therapies
- both recognize the power of thoughts and beliefs
- both agree we are all prone to numerous cognitive distortions (but go about ‘solving’ them in different ways
precursors of contemplative therapies
The earliest systematic seekers of heeling and self-understanding were called shamans. They learned to alter their consciousness through various techniques (fasting, drumming, psychedelics)
shamans =
ancient healers who functioned as physicians, therapists and spiritual counselors.
3 major integrations between contemplative and traditional therapies:
- search for common factors
- technical eclecticism: combination fo mindfulness with traditional therapeutic techniques
- theoretical integration (combination of contemplative and traditional perspectives into integrative theories (integral psychology)
issues of popularity with contemplative psychology
- iedereen denkt dat mindfulness het enige is
- practices like meditation are often ripped from their supportive multimodal context, which might reduce their benefits
- dingen als bewustzijn, postconventional development en transpersonal identity zijn lastig te meten (en dus lastig te onderzoeken)
- het traditionele motief voor contemplative psychologie is compassie en altruisme. dit wordt vaak vergeten
- extensive personal experience is essential; many people practice way to little
Our usual state of consciousness (when not impaired by illnesses, stress, intoxication) is not optimal as is stated in traditional Western psychology: our minds are continuously filled with thoughts, images, fantasies, and other distortions of awareness. Contemplative views state that there are more effective functional states available through contemplative training.
-> The ‘normal’ person is considered to be partly ‘dreaming’ and contemplative therapies enable people to ‘awaken’ (known as enlightenment or nirvana)
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hoe kijken contemplative methoden naar onze identiteit
Our ‘self’ is substantially different from our usual unexamined assumptions. Close examination with meditation reveals our self-sense is continuously and selectively constructed from a flux of thoughts, images, and emotions: our self is a mental construction.
-> Contemplative methods teach people to recognize that their self-image is only a fabrication that one can disidentify from and to recognize our unity with all people and the universe.
hoe kijken contemplative methodes naar motivatie
Western psychologies overlook a range of higher motives (metamotives; self-actualization, selftranscendence, selfless service). These metamotives are essential elements of our psychological nature that need to be exercised: ignoring them produces several kinds of pain and pathology (metapathologies; deep sense of meaningless, cynicism, alienation).
Further, there is a risk that we fall for the delusion that if we can get enough of lesser motives (sex, money, power), we will be fully and permanently happy. Whenever we do not get these means, we suffer. However, when we do get them, we will habituate and want more (hedonic treadmill).
-> Contemplatives emphasize the essentiality of recognizing and cultivating metamotives.
meditatie=
a family of introspective self-regulation practices that train attention and perception in order to bring mental processes under greater voluntary control and foster beneficial mental capacities, well being and maturation
2 categories of meditations
- concentration meditations: holding attention on a single stimulus to develop abilities to focus, concentrate and calm the mind
- awareness meditations: exploring the ongoing flux of experiences to cultivate awareness and to use it to explore the nature of the mind and experiences. this produces insight and self-understanding, fostering mental health and maturation.
yoga=
a family of multimodal practices with aims similar to meditation. However, yogas are more inclusive in that they can include ethics, lifestyle, body postures, diet, breath control, study, and intellectual analysis next to meditation.
3 mental factors that play a fundamental role in contemplatives view on psychopathology
- Delusion: unrecognized mental dullness, mindlessness, or unconsciousness that misperceives and misunderstands the nature of mind, reality, and self. These delusions produce pathogenic beliefs, behaviors, and motives (among which craving and aversions).
- Craving: intense compulsive desire for something. Painful emotions stem directly from craving, and it is also the basis for suffering, reflecting the gap between what we crave and what we have.
- Aversion: compulsive need to avoid undesirable stimuli. It again produces negative emotions: what you are unwilling to experience paradoxically runs your life.
the contemplative ideal of health encompasses 3 shifts:
- unhealthy qualities (delusion, craving, aversion)
- healthy qualities
- maturation to postconventional, transpersonal levels
7 practices of contemplative therapies with their 7 corresponding qualities:
- cultivating ethicality/ethical behaviour (unethical behaviour = karma)
- transforming emotions (reducing negative emotions, cultivating positive emotions)
- redirecting motivation (on what really matters: metamotives)
- developing concentration
- refining awareness (perception)
- fostering wisdom (deep nuanced insight)
- practicing altruism and service
