I am generally weary of claims that anxiety can be eliminated by simply changing negative thought patterns. I mean, if I could control my thoughts and mood, I wouldn’t have anxiety in the first place. But this L.A. Times article about “mindfulness therapy” for anxiety and depression piqued my interest.
The article references studies in which researchers concluded that mindfulness therapy is effective for relieving anxiety and improving mood for people with generalized anxiety disorder and recurring depression. Well, that’s me in a nutshell — evidently I’m the perfect candidate.
Mindfulness therapy is described as a meditation-based treatment with foundations in Buddhism and yoga. Like traditional meditation, mindfulness therapy involves focus on breathing, but it also involves elements of cognitive behavioral therapy to recognize negative thinking patterns. Patients are encouraged to “notice and not judge their thoughts and to generally live in the moment.”
I’m interested to learn more about mindfulness therapy and why it works. It makes sense that if you are living in the moment, you are not worrying about future events or ruminating on negative thoughts. But is it really that simple?
If you have tried mindfulness therapy, I would love to hear about it!
1 comment
Comments feed for this article
January 12, 2011 at 9:29 pm
gettingbetterfromgad
Hi Elizabeth
I think that mindfulness has been researched to be useful, especially for depression. There is an excellent book called ‘Overcoming Depression’ by Paul Gilbert, which has a lot of information about mindfulness. As well as helpful Buddist writings on the subject there are also Christian writings. A book that is now out of print, but which you may like to get from a library is ‘Sadhana, a way to prayer’ by Antony De Mello (who was Jesuit priest). He outlines many of the same techniques from a Christian view point.
If you’d rather something more recent there is another good book on the subject ‘Finding Santuary’, by Christopher Jamison. Hope this is useful to you and others.
Very best wishes, Julie x