Mindfulness Therapy

Question 1

What is mindfulness therapy and what are the aims?

Answer 1

Developed by Dr Kabbat-Zinn
Aims to enable individual to be in control of their mind by paying attention to present thoughts and emotions.

Question 2

Describe the first component of mindfulness

Answer 2

Gaining control of thoughts
Dominate negative thoughts. Past can’t be changed and future can’t be predicted so focus on present.

Question 3

Describe the second component of mindfulness

Answer 3

Meditation and mindful breathing
Takes practice and formal training and removes one from daily interactions. One learns to tune out distractions and focus on body sensations, thoughts and emotions

Question 4

Describe the third component of mindfulness

Answer 4

Informal practices of mindfulness
Practicing in everyday life, such as brushing teeth. Making conscious decision to appreciate surroundings. When mind wonders, bring attention back to breathing and sensations.

Question 5

Evaluate the effectiveness of mindfulness therapy

Answer 5

Dr William Van Der Gordon found that meditation awareness therapy led to an improvement of 7% people with depression, anxiety and stress

Question 6

Evaluate the ethical issues of mindfulness therapy (3)

Answer 6

Doesn’t get to the root cause of a psychological disorder such as traumatic childhood experiences so ineffective. Hard to generalise as only works on mild cases.
Ethical in comparison to CBT: CBT overlooks circumstances and blames patient. Mindfulness acknowledges issue so no risk of harm.
3. Could be delivered by untrained practitioners as many only have one week of training. Wont be delivered efficiently, wasting patient’s time and money.