Mindfulness Cognitive Therapy

Billy Mpoyi
Professor Merkner
English 2030
May 1, 2017

Mindfulness & Cognitive Therapy
ABSTRACT
Mindfulness cognitive therapy is an 8-week group therapy program created to help patients handle mental illnesses such as: depression, anxiety, and such. Research has shown it to be effective in relieving depression and putting a stop to a relapse. Patients are expected to perform extensive assignments at home, on top of their group therapy. This type of program offers many benefits in relieving symptoms of depression and anxiety; either as a stand-alone treatment or in addition to other practices.

INTRODUCTION
MBCT (or mindfulness-based cognitive therapy) was developed by researchers from England and Canada who were searching for new forms of
Mark Williams, one of the developers of the program, has described it as “80% meditation, 20% cognitive therapy” (Law, 2008 Law, N. (2008, March 31). Scientists probe meditation secrets. BBC News Online). The MBCT program consists of eight two-hour group meetings following an initial individual assessment meeting. In addition, participants are expected daily to complete about one hour of meditation practice and other exercises at home. MBCT has been studied extensively and appears to be an effective treatment for recurrent depression (Ma & Teasdale, 2004 Ma, S. H., & Teasdale, J. D. (2004). Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression: Replication and exploration of differential relapse prevention effects. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 72, 31–30; Teasdale et al., 2000 Teasdale, J. D., Segal, Z. V., Williams, J. M. G., Ridgeway, V. A., Soulsby, J. M., & Lau, M. A. (2000). Prevention of relapse/recurrence in major depression by mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 68, 615–623). Randomized controlled studies have shown MBCT to be as effective as antidepressant medication in preventing relapse, and more
Newland might have intervened by suggesting to the entire group that they pause and do a “three-minute breathing space,” a brief mindfulness exercise that the developers of MBCT consider to be the single most important practice in the program. It goes something like this:
• OK, everyone, let’s stop for a few moments, close our eyes, and just notice what’s going on inside.
• Please bring your awareness to whatever is happening right now in your body. Can you feel the contact sensations, where your body encounters something else, like the floor or the chair? Can you notice any sensations of tightening or tension? Can you just allow them to be there without trying to change or get rid of them?
• Now bring attention to any thoughts that might be running through your mind, seeing them simply as mental events, perhaps putting them into words or just labeling them as thinking, remembering, ruminating, or any other word or phrase that captures your experience.
• Now look at the emotional side of the mind, acknowledging any unpleasant feelings that might be present, again feeling free to step back and name them: anger, fear, confusion, or whatever description feels right to