Many of the mindfulness studies that I come across examine either healthy volunteers or patients who have severe clinical conditions.
But what about people whose symptoms fall somewhere in between? Could mindfulness practice be effective with them too?
That’s why this recent research study done by Wendy Pots, DClinPsych from the University of Twente (Netherlands), is so interesting.
Pots and her research team recruited 151 people who felt held back by their mild to moderate depressive symptoms. They wanted to see how a modified Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) course would impact them.
What made this course unique was that it was tailored for the general public.
To increase participation, daily practice time was reduced from 45 minutes to just 15 minutes and the weekly classes were shortened from 2 hours to 1 hour.
Because of the reduced class length, and in order to keep the integrity of MBCT course content, the number of weekly classes was extended from 8 to 11.
Of the original 151 participants, 76 were randomized to the modified MBCT course and the other 75 were assigned to a wait-list control group
Researchers conducted a variety of tests before and after the course, as well as 3 months later, to see if the course had any lasting effects.
Participants in the MBCT group displayed significant reductions in depression, anxiety, and experiential avoidance, as well as significant improvements in mindfulness and emotional and psychological mental health. What’s more, these changes were still present 3 months later.
What I like best about this study is how its design closely reflects what practitioners often encounter.
Many times clients experience mild symptoms of depression and just want to feel better – more like themselves again. Not only that, but many people also tell us that they don’t have tons of time to commit to practice.
Participants in this study achieved significant improvement with just 15 minutes of practice a day and a 1 hour class once a week.
You can find the entire article in the October, 2014 edition of Public Library of Science.
Have you modified mindfulness practices to encourage your clients to try it? What was the result? Please share your thoughts below.
Great suggestion for making Mundfulness practice more easily to integrate in daily life.
My clients have had wonderful benefits by being able to wstch their thoughts as an external observer, just by notice them, accept them some have been able even to decrease and some eliminate rage/anger explotions.
Yes, I have. Many are reluctant to commit to daily, regular 20-30 mins. practice but are willing to start with just committing for five-ten minuets. As they begin to enjoy and feel the positive effects I suggest they go for 15-20 mins. It is almost 100% possible for them to begin in such a manner and increase as they feel fit.
I use this with children in school. We start with just one minute and build up over time. At first we focus on deep breathing, feeding our brain, stretching specific muscles while using mindful talk of care. Kids love it and then next session they want to do more. . . so we do. . . longer and extend the conversation into self talk and emotions.
I try to keep it simple for clients starting off. I introduce them to ‘coming out of their busy mind’ by coming into their senses first, and I get them to practice focusing on each sense in turn, whatever they are doing, to try for a minute at a time throughout the day. Then I bring them onto the 3 minute Breathing Space, which of course often becomes 5 minutes. I find that helps give people a practical introduction to the benefits of mindfulness without them having to get their mind around ‘meditating’, and once they have the experience they are more open to trying more, for longer. It’s about what works for the individual isnt it?!
I have both recommended Headspace.com to clients and had them recommend it back to me too. I find the Three Minute breathing space is something clients can work with easily.
Hi Ruth
Thank you for this. I can call on this literature when discussing the benefits of being mindful.
I see adolescents, parents/children needing this type of workable practice.
There are also very good apps I use and encourage the while family give it a go. Model how you want your children to be and remember what your intention is. I get to practice with clients in my office so I get extra mindfulness during the day!
Do you have any specific apps that you may suggest too?
Thanks Ruth. Yes, I’ve encouraged my clients to practice awareness of the here and now and I also encourage them to meditate at least once per day for short periods and then to increase the interval once the meditation practice becomes a habit.
Interesting, I am also offering something similar in time scope to patients. Dear Ruth, could you provide a more detailed reference of this article, please.
Many thanks
I will take this one step further to say that some of your patients, like me at one point, need to try 5 min at a time. It’s grows to 15 min easy enough. What helps us is to see that we can do it, so if we say 5 min 2x a day, we can do that… we the knowledge that we can successfully do something as small as that for say 3-4 days, then we can try 10. Smaller increments to start gives us success stories for ourselves. 15 to you doesn’t sound like much but to someone who has never done it or is wrapped up in fear or depression, those first few weeks of meditation is gruelling due to negative self talk. It’s a learned practice to ignore all thought and just focus on breathing. Trust me that not all but some of your clients will appreciate patience in this.
I learned meditation years ago. Yoga also helps because you have to focus on the position being help as perfectly as you can, so you are out of your head, and just into the moment. Even with years of knowledge and training in meditation, when severe depression and anxiety hit it was very very difficult to sit still with myself. The fear and self loathing just wants to overrun every effort at reaching for something positive. In these cases, I suggest guided meditation, mindful cleaning (just commit to clean one thing in the house, it usually leads to more) or the mindful walk in nature. I hope this helps.
Mindfulness pretty much follows the “muscle” metaphor. we can’t start out with 200 lbs on the bar. The more we repeat consistent actions, the more pathways we burn in, so repeated smaller bites eventually eat the cake. Just like a muscle, we can increase the load and keep practicing. It’s not brain science…. oh wait. it is. 🙂
I think that flexibility in the training of mindfulness is very important. Too often it seems that mindfulness practice is carried out in a kind of detached, rigid way that does not incorporate the specific individual needs. I was asked to see a woman who experienced a severe trauma after an accident on a bus. She was severely debilitated and excessively preoccupied with the events of the accident, even after two years of therapy with another psychologist. In response to my queries, she told me that she had no idea what the outside of my office building looked like as all she thought about was finding the entrance and the exit. When I asked her to close her eyes and tell me the color of the chair in which she was sitting, she could not do it. I introduced mindfulness as a game that she could practice throughout the day “What am I missing?” I asked her to scan my room and then close her eyes and tell me what she had noticed. She was thrilled with the results and how quickly she began to experience the benefits of mindfulness. She became less preoccupied with the accident and less distraught. I did also prepare a brief mindfulness meditation practice she could do at home. I only saw her briefly as a referral and she will require a lot more therapy but I know that she left my office in much better shape.
A mindfulness coach huh? Sounds good.
Yes, I guess so Nancy. I think that coaching adds a personal element to therapy.
Yes I have modified mindfulness practices in order to get clients to try them. Although I was trained in the MBSR, MBCT, MBRP models, and know the research data is based on the suggested times for practice, I find that people are more likely to use mindfulness skills and benefit from them quickly when they are offered in sessions as informal practices (shorter periods throughout the day). People are not so discouraged by the daily 40-45 minutes strongly suggested in these courses and, alternatively to becoming discouraged and losing interest, quickly make the practices their own. At this point, after practicing the skills in session, and some success in life situations, I suggest the structured 8-week training training. This works for some people at the present time — for others, the seeds of a longer, deeper meditation practice have been planted in the context of psychotherapy.
I love this shortened approach to make mindfulness practice more accessible to more people. I have been working with clients with the 3X3 Focus System for over a year now. 3X3 is where you take three 3-minute breaks a day. It builds on the theory that with the interruption of mind chatter – even brief – one can create allow one to interrupt automaticity (spin) and gain greater emotional and mental self-regulation. I personally have had tremendous results as have my clients. I am just about to bring a 10-week Mindfulness for Focus & Results program into a beta test. We will ground the program in the 3X3 Focus System and hold 45-minute sessions each week.
Thank you Ruth! This approach really works! Check it out…there is A Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy follow up group in Seattle that meets 1x a week – Thursdays 5:45pm-6:45pm at Integrative Healing Segura Studios (FB) and in SF on a workshop basis for high functioning adults who have or are experiencing a wide range of depressive and/or anxiety feelings thoughts & behaviors. Participants have found the modified daily ‘hw’ practices make a noteworthy impact even when practiced formally only 3 to 20 minutes a day combined with informal various learned gratitude, empathy, self care & leadership practices as well as guided meditations (chakra, 5+ senses, i rest body scans, loving kindness, mind body emotion, uplifting spirit & honoring of challenging parts of ourselves). Check out what practitioners are saying on our Facebook page and learn more about the healing power of Internal Family Systems, yoga nidra, enneagram and mindfulness practices at reginasegurakhagramtherapy.com that are unsurpassed in effective life changing results. In awe, Regina
A Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy follow up group exists in Seattle 1x a week Thursdays 5:45pm-6:45pm at Integrative Healing Segura Studios (FB) and in SF on a workshop basis for high functioning adults who have or are experiencing a wide range of depressive and/or anxiety feelings thoughts & behaviors. Participants have found the modified daily ‘hw’ practices make a noteworthy impact even when practiced formally only 3 to 20 minutes a day combined with informal various learned gratitude, empathy, self care & leadership practices as well as guided meditations (chakra, 5+ senses, i rest body scans, loving kindness, mind body emotion, uplifting spirit & honoring of challenging parts of ourselves). Check out what practitioners are saying on our Facebook page and learn more about the healing power of Internal Family Systems, yoga nidra, enneagram and mindfulness practices at reginasegurakhagramtherapy.com that are unsurpassed in effective life changing results. In awe, Regina
As an emotional and relaxation coach who was trained originally in hypnosis I find mindfulness to be the other side of the coin. Both work extremely well at evoking relaxation and what is very interesting is that you can mix them.
I have seen clients become empowered and able to deal with their conditions much more successfully once they have had a few sessions with me.
Cheers,
Todd
Thank you very much Todd, that is Awesome to see when your clients are empowered and the transformation that takes place.
Hello Im havingo trouble tor egister, plase help me, thanks
Hi Jaime, Jay Selva, if you are experiencing fear, enxiety and negative thoughts, I can help you. I’m a professional mindfulness coach. Be ready to transform your life. Please contact me, Hablo Espanol imabundant40@gmail.com.
Thank you very much and thank you Ruth at Nicabm for helping thousands..
Love and light,
Jay
Jaime, just enter your name in the first space where you name, on the second space enter your e-mail address, the submit. Shortly after, you will get a notification to check your e-mail so that you can click on the link that you will receive from Ruth and you will get your report. Thank you!